


Masked

by Dragoncreeper161



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2020-01-04 19:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 79,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18350303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoncreeper161/pseuds/Dragoncreeper161
Summary: Evan was born with the ability to control fire and is able to summon wings if he need to. But after a tragic loss in Evan's life he decides to use his powers for good and takes up the name of Vanoss. And with the help of his friends, they are able to become a force to be recon with and are constantly foiling the local mafia's and their hitman Delirious's plans. Until Evan screws up





	1. Chapter 1

A/N Hello! I hope you like this story, sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes I may have missed, If you see any feel free to point them out, I am always hoping to improve my writing skills and would love some input. Anyways I hope you enjoy!

Evan let out a long exhausted sigh and closed the math book resting on the desk. He thought about slamming his head into it a few times before getting up and walking into the kitchen. He rested a cold glass of water against his throbbing head. He hated math, he wasn’t very good at it and midterms were coming up soon. 

On top of that, with all the school he had been missing recently he was practically teaching the material to himself. Evan took a sip from the glass and glanced across the room to a clock that sat on the wall. It read 5 pm, he dumped the last of the water into the sink and placed the cup upside down to dry before grabbing his phone, keys, and backpack that he kept underneath his bed. He left his dorm locking the door behind him. 

Evan got into the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. When the elevator doors opened he saw a few students that he recognized from his class chatting. He gave a polite wave and smiled as he walked by a shorter man with messy brown hair and a blue zip up. He smiled brightly back and waved as Evan stepped out the door. 

He got into his car and drove off heading towards his friend Nogla’s house. It was a small little home from the outside, looking as if it could only allow three people to live there comfortably, and well that was technically right, three people did call it home. A man named David Nogla, another man named Lui Caliber, and finally there was Craig Thompson. What you would be wrong in is the fact that the house was small. 

The majority of the building resided underground, add all the underground rooms together and it was at least three times the size of the facade on the surface. Making it the perfect place to host their operations. Evan knocked on the door and looked up to the microscopic camera in the corner of the doorframe and waved. You wouldn’t be able to tell that there even was a camera there if you didn’t already know, it was so small that it was impossible to see with the naked eye. 

There was a small buzzing noise and the clank of a deadbolt opening from behind the door then there was a small chime. Once Evan heard the chime he knew it was safe to enter and let himself in. He skipped through most of the house and instead walked straight to one of the bedroom in the back of the house. 

He walked up to one of the bookshelves against the walls and waited. The bookshelf pushed open from behind and Nogla stood there on the top of some concrete stairs. The tall lanky Irish man smiled brightly at Evan. “Hiya, Evan” 

“Hi Nogla” Evan said walking down the stairs with him, “How are things going here” 

“Oh things are going fine, Joe and Tony love those toys you got them, Lui is down in the lab with Craig making some new gadgets” Nogla responded 

“Anything cool?” Evan asked. Nogla just shrugged his shoulders “No idea, we can check on them after your checkup.” Evan wined “Do we have to…” Nogla laughed a bit “Yes Evan we have to, you took one hell of a beating last round, when you faced Delirious, we need to make sure everything has healed correctly.” Evan rubbed at his cheek feeling the ghost of pain from where he got slugged hard by his rival and muttered himself. 

They arrive at the bottom of the stairs to what Lui had coined the party room. There was a large flat screen TV. An Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and a Wii Switch sitting below the TV. On the other wall, there were 3 PCs each on their own desk with a fancy and expensive curved monitor. The room even had it’s own bar counter. 

Evan stared longingly at the computers wanting to hop on and play some video games with his friends. But Nogla pulled him along taking him to another room off to the right. They walked into a new room that was filled with medical equipment that would make any hospital look underfunded. 

The room was split practically in half separated by a thick piece of bulletproof glass. On one side of the glass, the one that Evan and Nogla were currently standing in was all of the medical equipment, on the other side was a bunch of various targets and other strange training equipment. Nogla dragged a rolling chair and pushed it towards Evan who sat in it. 

Nogla began looking and examining all over Evan’s body. He checked Evan’s lungs, his heart and looked over all the bruise that Evan had scattered over his body specifically one by his right rib. 

“Well every seems okay and your rib seems to have healed perfectly beside the bruising in the surrounding area. Now, let me see your wings, Evan nodded his head and with a little concentration and a bright flash of fire two large owl-like wings appeared on Evan’s back. Nogla studied them for a bit. 

“Okay stretch them out” Evan did what he was told and let his wings spread out as far as they could. Nogla ruffled his hands through his feathers checking for any injuries that may not have healed properly. Evan twitched and squirmed a bit from Nogla's figures ruffling his sensitive wings. 

Nogla wrote something down on a clipboard placed it on the counter. “Okay you can put them away now if you want” Evan nodded his head and his wings were gone as quickly as they appeared. 

“One last thing before I let you go, let’s test your fire” Nogla said grinning. A wide grin appeared on Evan’s face “This is the fun part!” Evan stood up and walk over to a thick glass door in the wall of glass splitting the room in half and stepped through. Nogla stood on the other side his voice came through a speaker and echoed in the room. 

“Okay Evan are you ready?” Evan gave him a thumbs up and ready his stance. Nogla pressed a button on the control panel in front of him and watched. The targets began to move in front of Evan and he focused on the palm of his hand and a bright fireball appeared. He threw at one of the targets, they collide and bursted into flames. 

Evan created a few more fireballs and took out the rest of the targets. Nogla's voice appeared over the speakerphone. “Okay Evan fight the dummies now.” Evan looked at Nogla through the glass and turned to a flame resistant mannequin. Fire consumed his hand and threw a punch at the dummy, scorching it. 

Nogla watched Evan throw a few more punches and a few kicks beating the poor dummy to a burnt crisp. He took a few more notes and told Evan that he could stop. Evan left the room and stood in front of Nogla. He flipped through his clipboard and looked up at him. 

“Everything seems to be in order, but I can see that you right rib is still bothering you, your were very stiff when using that side of your body.” Evan brought his hand up to his side, “Yea it’s still pretty sore, Is that bad?” 

“Not necessarily,” Nogla said messing up the pronunciation of necessarily. “If the pain doesn't subside within the week there could be a problem but I am sure it will be fine.” 

“That’s good then,” Evan said smiling “Thanks Nogla.” Nogla smiled back and they both walked back into the party room. Evan walked through the room and walked to another door on the other side of the room. He tried to pull the door open but it was locked. Evan stared at it a bit confused but shrugged it off. 

“Is it locked?” Nogla asked. Evan turned to him and saw him sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a beer in his hand. “Yep” Evan sighed “Oh well, they’ll come up when they are done with whatever the hell they are doing down there,” Nogla said. “Do you want to play a game while we wait.” 

Nogla saw Evan’s eyes light up, literally. Whenever Evan got excited if you paid enough attention and looked very closely you could see small specks of fire dance in his brown iris. If you didn’t know what you were looking at you would mistake it as a weird trick of the light, but Nogla knew better. 

They both got up and ran over to the computers turning them on. They booted up steam and began debating on what game to play. When they had finally decided what to play, a loud screech echoed throughout the room accompanied by a bright blinking red light. 

They both looked up at the alarm mounted on the wall above their heads. Evan frowned at it and turned to the locked door just as it swung open. Craig Thomson ran through the door panting from having to climb up a bunch of stairs. He was wearing a long white lab coat and he pushed up his glasses on his face. ”We have some activity!” Craig panted. 

Both Evan and Nogla followed Craig down the stairs and stopped at a door instead of continuing down. They stepped into a room that had a TV screen on every wall and a small table with a single laptop on it, there was also a larger round table with 4 chairs surrounding it and in the center of that table was a map of the city. 

Craig turned to Evan quickly and pulled up a live video on one of the screens on the wall. The video showed the inside of a bank and there where men with masks over their faces wearing Kevlar vests and were well equipped with large assault rifles and were pointing them at the unarmed customers. 

While the men in black were watching the civilians another man walked into the camera’s view. Evan narrowed his eyes at the screen he was wearing a hockey mask, a blue hood and equipped with an assault rifle of his own. He walk by the terrified customers and towards the vault in the back. “Delirious” Evan growled. 

“I am so sorry Evan, I caught this too late,” Craig said “It's fine it's not your fault, Things get by us all. Where's the bank at” Evan said. Craig read out the address and pointed to it on the city map in the center of the table. “Don’t worry I’ll stop him!” Evan said his voice filled with determination. “Be careful, Evan and watch the rib.” Nogla said. 

Evan nodded turned and ran farther down the stairs and reached the very bottom. He now stood in front of a large tunnel digging deep into the side of the earth, Evan quickly changed into his superhero suit, which he had kept in his backpack. It was black with a yellow trim and had a yellow owl symbol on the center of his chest. He put in an earpiece and did a quick test, 

“Testing testing” He said and Craig's voice filled his ear. “I read you, Evan, are you flying or driving there” Evan glanced back at the car behind him and shook his head “flying I’ll get there much faster” Evan focused for a second and with a flash of flames his wings materialized behind him. 

“Okay here I go” Evan said and he pulled down his owl mask so that it covered his face and pushed off the ground flying as fast as he could down the dark tunnel, his wings glowing it the darkness since they were partly made out of fire. Evan could see a pinprick of light towards the end of the tunnel and flew towards it. Within seconds he was at the tunnel's end that let out in the side of a cliff and over a small lake near the edge of the city. Evan flew over the lake and up into the clouds. His wings pushed him faster and faster towards the bank. Hopefully he would arrive in time to stop Delirious before things got to out of hand.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Hello again! Hope you're enjoying my story, also if you've ever read the Dresden files by Jim butcher that kind of how the magic works in this story. (Also the Dresden files is a really good series) Anyways I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to leave a review.

Evan flew high above the clouds using Craig's directions to get him to the bank. He landed on the roof of the bank as quietly as he could. Once he had made sure no one saw him he carefully pulled out his pistol and checked it make sure it was ready to go.

"Okay Mini I am on the roof, now what?" he whispered into his earpiece calling Craig by his code name. "okay there should be an access panel to your left on the floor," Mini said while checking a map that showed the bank's layout on his computer.

Vanoss ran to the metal panel that Mini Lad was talking about and tore it off. He lowered himself down it trying to make as little noise possible. "Okay, now what?" he whispered watching the vent that headed in two different directions. "Go to the right. There the should be another vent access panel just outside the vault entrance. It should be the first opening you see,"

Vanoss crawled through the dark vents till he saw rays of light coming up from the lights in the building and into the vent giving him a beacon showing him where to go. Vanoss crawled up to the opening and peer down he saw a man with a black mask over his face standing there with an assault rifle, Next to him by the vault door was delirious. Delirious finished cracking the code and pulled open the vault door unlocking the treasure within.

Vanoss gritted his teeth and prepared himself before kicking the vent out causing it to smack into the guard. Vanoss jumped down as well and quickly smacked the guy on the back of the head hard with the butt of his pistol. He had taken Delirious by surprise but he still barely had enough time to move out of the way before Delirious shot at him with his own revolver. The bullet missed Vanoss and lodged itself it to the floor where he had just been. "Shit..." he heard Delirious mutter and Vanoss batted the gun away from Delirious, grabbed his by the shoulder and threw him down into his knee.

He heard Delirious gasp as the air was kicked out of him and watched him fall to his knees. Vanoss was about to aim his gun at Delirious' head when he produced a knife from his blue sleeve and swung it at Vanoss's chest. He managed to back up just enough to not get hit by the blade but it also allowed Delirious to get up and swing his leg into Vanoss's side. The already busied rib burned with pain and Vanoss grunted as he gripped it trying to subside the pain.

" Hello Vanoss," Delirious said his gun now trained on Evan's head, "How're the ribs?" Vanoss couldn't see Delirious' face behind the mask but he knew he was smiling. "Well," Evan winced "It could be better," Delirious let out a psychotic laugh, and he clocked the gun back "Well! Let me fix that for you!"

Vanoss panicked and focused his fear to fuel his magic and used it to make a makeshift flashbang, Delirious was forced to cover his eyes and pulled the trigger. Vanoss dove out of the way and the bullet barely missed him. Dots filled Delirious's eyes blurring his vision. He blinked, trying to clear his vision when two of his goons came running in from the main lobby.

"Crap" Vanoss muttered and he grabbed Delirious by his jacket and threw him into the new arrivals knocking them off their feet. Delirious recovered fast and threw himself at Vanoss. He tackled Vanoss to the ground and dug his fingers into Vanoss's bruised side. He let out a yelp of pain and kicked Delirious off of himself.

"Now!" Delirious yelled at his lackeys taking one large step away from Vanoss. Vanoss soon realized what was happening. "Oh, shit!" He said as he got up and ran towards the closing vault door. Vanoss slammed his fists into the door as he heard it lock shut. "Oh crap, ooooh crap" Evan muttered to himself. What the hell was he going to do now? Outside the vault, he could hear Delirious laugh "I'd love to stick around and see what happened to you but I am afraid I must be going now. Good bye, Vanoss and Good luck in there" Delirious and his men ran out of the bank with the money they managed to grab before Vanoss showed up and left before the cops arrived.

"Damn him!" Vanoss yelled slamming his fist onto the vault door. "Mini!" He called out. "I am trapped in the vault!". "Shit…" Mini said scratching his head trying to find a way to help Vanoss escape. "Hey what are you doing!" Mini said and a new voice filled Vanoss's ear "Hey! Try out that new gadget I gave you the other day"

"Hey Lui, what new gadget?" "Oh did I not tell you I added a new grenade to your arsenal," Lui said, "No you didn't but do you really think pulling a grenade in this small space is a good idea…" Vanoss said rummaging in the belts on his waist looking for anything new. "Well, I wouldn't really call it a grenade that's just what I came up with right now to describe it," Lui said. Vanoss pulled out a round ball and held it in his hand the object was black and had a fiery vain running through it.

It pulsed a little and at the top was a little red button. "What is it," he asked. He could practically hear the grin on Lui's face. " It's more of a laser and it's made from your powers." Vanoss blinked at the round ball. "It's a what?" "A Laser you aim the ball where you want the laser to hit and fire by press the button on the top." "how do I know which way it aims" Vanoss said studying the ball.

"There should be a small red x on the side somewhere." Vanoss flipped the ball around in his hand and found the tiny red x "Okay so I just press this button and it will fire the laser at the wall"

"Yep!" Lui exclaimed. "Okay," Vanoss said warily and pressed the button. The ball began to pulse faster and it began to shake in his hand. "Or… It could completely blow up in your face" Lui said. "I haven't tested it yet."

"What!" Vanoss screamed and looked down and the potential death device in his hands. It glowed brighter and brighter before it let out a loud screech and shot out a bright red beam of heat. Vanoss tried to calm down and move his hand holding the ball in a large circle and the vault wall metaled away. "Holy Shit," Vanoss said in astonishment "did he die?" he heard Lui call

"No…" He heard Mini sigh a bit annoyed at Lui for being so careless. Vanoss heard sirens coming closer and closer. "Hurry up and come back here Vanoss before you get seen by the police."

"Okay, on my way." Vanoss said. His wings reappeared on his back and he flew off as fast as he could, flying above the clouds. Vanoss flew back to the lake and watched as the golden sun started to set and the clouds light up in an orange and pink glow.

Evan pulled off his mask in the safety of the base and walked back up the stairs. His body ached and his side burned with a fiery pain constantly throbbing, dear god he hoped he didn't break his rib again. Nogla met him halfway down the stairs and help him the rest of the way up and had him lie down on the couch in the "party room". Evan groaned and gripped his side.

"Damn it, Evan I told you to watch the ribs," Nogla said as he peeled of Evan's shirt. He glared at the Irish man "Next time I'll tell him to hit the other side" Nogal smiled a bit and handed Evan an ice pack. "From what I can tell it's not broken again but I'll need to double check it with the x-ray machine."

Lui popped his head into the room and Evan glared at him. "Or it could blow up…huh" Lui had a sheepish grin on his face and rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, it worked," He said, hints of pride in his voice. Evan smiled a bit "That it did, Hey" Lui looked up at Evan. "You said that you made that from my power, how did you do that." Lui beamed "I managed to capture some of your power last time you were training and I stored the energy into that ball and had it focused to a very tight point causing it to heat up very quickly and it can get hot enough to cut through steel."

"Wow…" Evan said, "I wonder if I can do that without that ball." Lui thought about that for a second "Maybe…" He said and looked over to Nogla. "We'll test it out later," he said "but for now getting some rest Evan, you've earned it" Evan weakly smiled and thank Craig when he gave him a blank from one of the closets and fell asleep on the couch.

Evan woke up to the clattering of bottles and looked up to see Nogla pouring himself a drink from the bar. "What time is it?" he croaked rubbing his eye. Nogla looked down at his watch, "Umm it's 8:55" Evan looked at him with a bit of confusion "You're drinking this early in the morning?" He asked staring at Nogla in disbelief. "I am Irish Evan what did you expect." Evan laughed a little but shot out of bed suddenly.

He gripped his side in pain but still managed to hobble over to Nogla. "What time was it again!" He urged, "Evan, don't do that you going to hurt yourself more." Nogla said moving to help Evan lay back down, but Evan didn't move. "What time was it!" He repeated "8:55" Nogla responded "Am or Pm?"

"Am!" Nogla said. "Shit!" Evan cried, "I overslept I need to get to school." Evan quickly slipped out of the rest of his superhero suit and shoved into the backpack he had brought. Evan hopped into his normal clothes and ran up the stairs. Nogla grabbed his key and followed Evan up the stone stairs and out the bookshelf. "I'll drive you there then," He offered .

"Oh no you don't, I have no idea how many drinks you had before I woke up after all your Irish." Nogla gave Evan an annoyed look and grumbled to himself. "Make sure you come back here later on today, I still need to check on your ribs."

"Will do," Evan said as he got back into his car. "Bye Nogla!" he called out before racing off towards his college. Evan screeched his car to a halt and parked it in the farthest and only available parking spot on the entire campus. Evan groaned to himself and he began running as fast as his side would allow him to.

He ran across the campus and through the college building before finally arriving at his second-period classroom just before the bell rang signaling it was 9:15. Evan let out a small sigh and walked into his classroom and found his seat. Once Evan had settled in he glanced to his friend next to him, he was just staring at him "You look awful" he said.

Evan rolled his eyes "Gee thanks, I could say the same to you, the rings under your eye make you look like a drug addict. The man laughed a bit "For all you know I am."

"Oh come on Jonathan we all know that's bullshit, you wouldn't even get near the group of kids smoking pot at that party." Jonathan grinned and his blue eyes sparkled a bit. "like you've tried any drugs before" He said teasingly but he sounded tired he was also still wearing the same blue zip up that he had on yesterday in the lobby. "I"ll have you know I am a hardcore drug addict and I've done every drug on this earth." Evan joked a bit to loudly and the teacher gave him a weird look.

Evan felt his cheeks heat up and Jonathan chuckled under his breath. The teacher turned away from the pair and began writing on the board declaring that the class had started. Evan and Jonathan sat quietly and pay attention to the teacher, Evan had drifted off into his own head a bit before a small snore snapped him from his daydreams.

He looked over at his friend and found his head facing him and propped up on his arm fast asleep. He let out another cute snore and Evan thought about pulling out his phone to record him. Then he focused on what the teacher was saying.

"this is project will be done in pairs and I am passing the guidelines out now." She began walking up the aisles and was approaching the sleeping Jonathan. Evan tapped Jonathan's shoulder, but he didn't stir. "Jonathan, Jonathan wake up." He whispered, nothing. The teacher was now only two rows away

"Jonathan!" He said a little louder. One row, Evan kicked Jonathan hard in the leg and he sat up straight so fast that is actually scared Evan for a second. The teacher walked up to their row and glared at the two before handing them their papers and continuing on.

"Oww" Jonathan mumbled loud enough for Evan to hear. "Sorry you wouldn't wake up and I don't want you to get into trouble." "well thank you," Jonathan said and rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly and looked away from Evan to hid his blushing cheeks. Evan looked down at his paper and began reading it, "we have to build a cardboard boat?" Evan said in disbelieve. "I guess soo" Jonathan replied also reading the paper. "hey," Evan said, "do you want to work together on this project."

"Hmp!" Jonathan said a smile creeping onto his face. "What?" Evan asked, "I think what you meant to say was Jonathan will you carry me and use your amazing skills and brains to get me an A on this project." Jonathan clasped his hands together and gave Evan his best puppy dog eyes. Evan glared at him but was smiling, "this coming from the guy that just slept through half the class".

"I was learning with my eye's closed," Jonathan said confidently smiling a bit. The bell rang indicating that class was over and they both started to pack up their things. "So we'll meet up at your place." Jonathan said turning towards Evan, "Umm I don't think we could build an entire boat in the small confines of my dorm." Evan said rubbing the back of his head. "Can't we do it at your place" Jonathan hesitated a bit and looked like he was deeply thinking.

"Fine… I'll text you my address later and we can get together sometime this weekend to work on this project. "well okay then, I'll see you later" Evan said slipping his back pack over his shoulder. "Bye Evan," Jonathan said smiling and waved good-bye before leaving the classroom.

Evan let out a sigh as he watched Jonathan go and left the class room himself. Evan felt his heart flutter a bit in his chest. He had known Jonathan for all of college so that was practically 4 years now but he's never been to his house before, and something about this idea made Evan's cheeks heat up.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Hello again! Here's another chapter and hope you like. Sorry for any grammar mistakes I missed, and don't forget to leave some feed back I'd really like to know what I could improve on.

Evan continued to blush madly as he walked down the school hallway. "Tyler!" Evan heard someone scream from down the hallway followed by very loud footsteps heading right for him. A very tall man broke through the crowd of students occupying the hallway, he was focused on someone behind him trying to maneuver themselves through the crowd as well.

The tall man looked forward again to make sure he didn't smack into some poor student and his eyes fell on Evan. His mischievous smile widened and he ran up to Evan grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed Evan between him and the crowd of students.

"Protect me, Evan!" His grip firmly held Evan there not allowing him to get out of the way when the other student finally broke through the crowd and came barreling towards them. He was tall but he wasn't anywhere near the hight of the man behind Evan, he had dark skin and wore an Adventure time hat on his head, he also looked furious. He ran up to them and tried to get around Evan but the tall man pulled Evan like a puppet keeping him between them the whole time.

"Tyler stop using me as a human meat shield!" Evan cried as he was jerked to the left when the man in front of them tried to dash around. "Then tell marcel he needs to cool it, it was just a joke!" Evan looked at Marcel for an explanation. "You filled my locker with a bunch of Orbeez and I got a detention because of it!" He yelled still trying to get around Evan. "How the hell did you get a detention because of me."

"When thousands of little tiny balls fall out of your lock and spill all over the floor it is known as a fire hazard and the principal gave me a detention and made me clean it all up!" the two continued to bicker back and forth and Evan was caught right in the middle. They continued to fight all the way to the history classroom.

They took their seats, a man ran up to the group, he had white hair and had a pair of 3D glasses propped up on the top of his head. "Hi, Smitty." Evan said waving to the man. Smitty smiled back "Did you guys see what happened yesterday?" Smitty said standing in front of the group "No?" Tyler questioned looking back and forth between his friends and Smitty. "Really you didn't hear about the bank robbery and the fight between Delirious and Vanoss."

"Oh, that!" everyone said except Evan he looked away for a second. "I didn't hear anything about that" Evan said giving his friends his best confused and sincere face he could muster. "Boy! what kind of rock are you living under!" Smitty said shaking his head. "Here watch, they just released the security footage today," Smitty said handing his phone over to Evan.

He watched it intently and all of his other friends leaned in to get a peek as well. The video showed the fight between Vanoss and Delirious just outside the vault door. Evan's hand subconsciously held his ribs when he watched Delirious kick him in the ribs, God that hurt. The footage ended when Vanoss got pushed into the vault and Delirious walked off camera.

"Man, that kick to the side looked like it hurt," Tyler said, "What about the knee to the stomach Delirious took" Smitty also commented, "Oh man they are so cool! I wish I could meet Vanoss," Smitty said taking his phone from Evan. Evan blushed a little when he heard this. "No way! Delirious is much cooler," Tyler said.

"Is not!" Smitty said responded shaking his head "Besides there's no way I could ever meet him, he'd probably kill me before I even knew he was there." Marcel laughed a bit "You'd probably not even get killed by Delirious but by one of the henchmen from the mafia he is apart of."

"Please," Smitty said, "I can handle some low ranking foot soldier I took karate classes when I was younger." "Karate doesn't help you much when there are bullets flying at you" Marcel finished. Smitty opened his mouth to retaliate but was interrupted by the bell ringing and the teacher telling everyone to find their seats.

The rest of the day was a blur for Evan. He would try to pay attention to class but he always found his mind wandering back to Delirious. Delirious was apart of the local mob that ran most of the city. Delirious was the right-hand man of the crime boss himself. He was constantly doing the dirty but vital jobs. He was essentially the hitman for the mafia and their best one, but he normally worked in the shadows, so why the hell was he robbing a bank in the middle of the day, that's normally not his style and it caught them completely of guard.

It was weird for the mafia to pull a stunt like this. Evan couldn't help but feel like he was missing something. Evan clenched his fist and thought about the crime boss pulling strings, planning something big.

His name was John E. Pelter and he was damn powerful. Evan had only met the man once but he'll never forget him. He is cruel, heartless, violent, and very influential. He has strings attached to everyone with a bit of power in the city.

He was also the reason why Evan's parents were dead. Evan thought about his parents and his heart ached from how much he missed them. Evan's father was running to be the mayor of the city and everyone loved him, He was kind, generous and pure of heart. He was guaranteed to win the election and Mr. Pelter was not happy that he wasn't his puppet.

Evan thought back to the night he lost his parents. It was a cold rainy weekend so Evan and his parents were gathered by the fireplace playing UNO. Evan was about 8 at the time and he was having the time of his life. Evan giggled and would make up silly rules to helping him win. They continued to play games, and told stories, all night long until Evan fell asleep on the couch. His parents carried Evan off to bed and tucked him in before they walked downstairs leaving Evan to his dreams.

It was about an hour later and little Evan woke up to shouts coming from downstairs. Evan got up and quietly tiptoed his way to the stairs. From there he could see the front door of the house. The door was open and his father stood there and was yelling at three men standing just outside on the porch.

They stood in a little triangle and the two men on the sides where build by like tanks and wore suits and black sunglasses despite it being night time. The man in the standing in the middle looked like your typical businesses man and he had a cold calculating aura surrounding him, he also looked very annoyed.

"How dare you try and bribe me Mr. Pelter! Evan's father yelled at the man. "I implore you to reconsider Mr. Fong. I do not wish to harm you or your loved ones but I will not let you stand in my way, So I'll ask you again, will you drop the charges or not!" Mr. Pelter said sternly leaning closer to Evan's dad. "No!" Evan's father said planting his feet.

Mr. Pelter tisked "Such a shame I think we would have worked well together" He turned to leave and looked up at his two bodyguards. "Kill them!" Evan's father panicked and tried to swing the door shut. But one of the bodyguards managed to jam his foot into the door before it closed and kicked it back open.

The roar of the shotgun was deafening and Evan's ears rang as he watched his father double over with a gaping hole in his stomach. Evan's mother let out a terrified scream and bolted up the stairs, she froze for a second when she saw Evan standing there. Then she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back into his room, slamming the door behind her locking it. "Mom, what's happening" Evan squeaked out "Who are those people and where's Dad?"

"Oh Evan, baby listen to me," She said bring Evan in for a hug "These are very bad men and they will hurt you if they catch you, do you understand me." Evan nodded his head and began to cry when there were slams coming from the bedroom door. Evan's mom hugged him tighter "Evan I need you to use your wings and fly out of here as fast as you can through that window."

"But mom what about you? I can't leave you here!"

"You won't I"ll be right behind you" The door was starting to give and Evan's mom began pushing her body against it hoping to buy them some more time. "Hurry Evan go!" she yelled and Evan scrambled towards the window and climb up to the roof. He used the method that his mother taught him to summon his little wings.

Before pushing off of the roof as hard as he could letting his wings carry him into the air. There was another loud blast from the shotgun echoed out from the house followed by a painful shrill of his mother. Tears flowed from Evan's face as he flew deeper into the forest that laid behind his house.

Two days later the police found Evan curled up in a ball on the front porch of his house. They ended up sending him to live in an orphanage because Evan had no other living relatives that they were aware of. Evan never understood why Mr. Pelter and his gang never came to finish the job, but at the end of the day, he didn't care.

From that day forth Evan vowed to prevent Mr. Pelter from ever hurting anyone else ever again and he wanted nothing more than to see his crime empire fall. When Evan opened his eye again he saw that the class was almost over and his friends were all staring at him smiling.

"What?' Evan said rubbing his eyes. He could tell they were all trying to hold in a laugh. "What!" he said a little louder "Nothing!" his friends said and turned back to look at the board in the front of the classroom. Evan let out a small sigh and resumed taking notes, not that it mattered anymore he had missed most of them already. Every once in a while he would catch his friends stealing glances at him.

What was so funny? Was he snoring earlier? Evan smiled to himself and let his eyes close again and listened. He stayed like this for a good five minutes before he heard his friends started to whisper to each other.

"He's asleep again! Quick Smitty, pass it back to me" Tyler whispered. Evan heard the pop of a cap and Evan began counting in his head, 1…2…3… Evan snapped his eyes open and grabbed Tyler's hand centimeters from his face. Tyler looked at Evan his face full of surprise and dropped the sharpie in his hand. "What are you doing?" Evan said glaring at him. "Nothing!" Tyler squeaked. Evan let go of his friend and rubbed his eyes again.

"I swear to god if there is a dick on my face I will kill you!" Evan pulled out his phone and turned on the front camera, Well there wasn't a dick on his face just a bunch of scribbles and weird doodles all over his right cheek. Evan turned and glared at Tyler again. "Hey, it was Smitty's idea!"

"Dude! don't throw me under the bus!" The bell rang signaling both class and school was over. Evan began to laugh a bit "Just you to wait I'll get you both back for this" Both Tyler and Smitty exchanged glances and gulped as they packed up their things. They all left the classrooms and said their goodbyes heading separate ways.

Evan drove back to his dorm and spent the next hour and a half trying to scrub off the scribbles from his cheek. By the time he was done the right side of his face was raw and red. Evan left the bathroom and heard his phone start to buzz. "Hello," he muttered when he picked up the call. "Evan! We've got a problem." Nogla shouted into the phone

"What is it!" Evan replied gathering his keys and backpack that held his super suit ready to sprint out and drive over to Nogla's as fast as he could. "It's Delirious! He's about to blow up the silver gate bridge." "What?" Evan said in surprise, "what's the point of doing that?" the silver gate bridge was massive and it connected the two halves of the city stretching high and far over a massive river that feeds into the bay area. "I don't know Evan, but there's a lot of people on that bridge!" Evan clutched his fists, "I won't have time to make it to your place, I'll go straight from here."

"Evan you can't do that you don't have your earpiece, we won't be able to contact you."

"That doesn't matter right now Nogla, There are people that are going to get hurt if I don't do something about it and fast."

"But Evan!" Evan hung up his phone and tossed it onto the couch. He bolted out of his dorm and ran passes the elevators not bothering to wait for them to open, and head straight for the stairs. Evan ran through the lobby and hopped into his car, pulled out of the parking lot and headed straight for the bridge.

Evan was only able to get so close to the bridge before he ran into a police barricade preventing anyone from approaching the bridge. Evan parked his car as close to the bridge as he could, grabbed his backpack and ran into the nearest ally out of sight from any bystanders or police. He quickly changed into his suit and hid his backpack with his normal clothes behind a trash can.

He then summoned his wings and flew up high and straight towards the bridge. Vanoss circled the bridge once until he spotted Delirious in a stand of with the police. Delirious was using an abandoned car for cover and the police were doing the same on the other side. Evan glanced around for the bomb and finally spotted two guys strapping something to one of the support beams of the bridge. Evan watched Delirious pop out from his cover and unleashed an onslaught of bullets on the poor police officers. One of them twitched and their body jerked back as a bullet ripped through them. The officer next to him pulled his body into cover and started putting pressure on the wound, shouting something into the walkie talky that was strapped to their shoulders.

Evan felt his rage flare, He thought about what was the best course of action he could take, he knew nothing about bombs and without his earpiece, he wouldn't be able to ask Mini for help. Evan came to the conclusion that it would be best to leave that to the police but they were being held up by Delirious at the end of the bridge.

So that left Evan only one choice, to take out Delirious.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Hello again! I am so happy people are actually enjoying my story and I hope that you’ll enjoy this chapter as well. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes I might have missed. And don’t forget to leave a review!

Evan focused in on Delirious crouched behind the car. He brought his wings in close allowing him to practically drop from the sky. He quickly opened them back up when he was in line with the bridge and close to Delirious. Delirious fired another round at the cops before ducking behind the car again, he popped out the rifle's clip and was about to reload it when he caught movement within his peripheral vision. 

Delirious turned his head and saw Vanoss flying right towards him. He dropped his rifle, there was no way he would be able to reload it in time, and pulled out a pistol from the holster strapped to his hip. Delirious pushed himself away from the car and turned to fire at Vanoss. Vanoss threw himself into him as hard as he could before he had a chance to fire. Delirious swore as his breath escaped him as he and Vanoss went tumbling to the ground. 

Vanoss managed to get back on his feet first, and he swung his leg at Delirious's side. Delirious bearly was able to block the kick with his forearm but the force sent him back to the ground. Vanoss glanced over to the police while Delirious was still down. They were completely astonished by his sudden arrival and didn’t seem to know what to do next. 

“what are you just standing there for?” Vanoss yelled at the cops, “the bomb is being set up on one of the support beams further down the bridge!” Delirious got to his feet and threw a left hook at Vanoss’s face, and he had to take a step back to avoid getting hit. ”There are only two men setting the bomb up, and they are probably armed” Vanoss continued to yell. “You go on ahead and stop them, I’ll hold Delirious here!” 

“Damn you Vanoss.” Delirious snapped. 3 of the cops advanced forward, while the injured officer was escorted by his friend back to the blockade at the beginning of the bridge to get medical help. Delirious tried to rush towards his pistol and stop the cops from reaching the bomb, but Vanoss stopped him by pulling out his own revolver and pointing the barrel at Delirious's chest. 

He froze in place and glared at Vanoss from behind his mask. “So tell me Delirious, what is the rat planning that he’s having you blow up a bridge?” Delirious let out a small chuckle and shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me.” Delirious stretched his arms out so Vanoss could see his hands “I only follow the orders, not make them. And you are in my way!” Delirious flicked his left wrist and Vanoss was hit by something cold and wet, the mystery force slammed him into the car that Delirious had been hiding behind earlier. 

Evan’s vision swirled with pain and confusion, “Right in the ribs…” he wheezed out. Delirious let out his signature psychotic laugh “Bet you weren’t expecting that one Vanoss!” Delirious stepped closer to the dazed Evan. Vanoss placed his hand on the roof of the car helping him steady himself trying to shake the stars from his vision. Delirious grabbed him by the straps of his kevlar vest, pulled him closer and practically whispered in his ear. “Let’s just say you’re not the only one around here with a special quirk.” Evan felt his heart race, Delirious has powers, has he always had them. 

Evan tried to break free of Delirious's grip but he couldn’t. “I don’t really like using them too often, it’s one of the few secrets I keep from the boss.” Delirious pulled a little Evan closer. “Now” he murmured “Why don’t you show me your secret” Delirious reached out, his hand outstretched ready to grasp the fabric of Evan’s mask and rip it from his face. Evan tried to lean back away from him but Delirious held on tight. He couldn’t let Delirious see his face, If Delirious knew who he was, then so did Mr. Pelter. 

Evan didn’t want his friends to be used against him, he didn’t want them to meet the same fate as his parents did. Jonathan, Tyler, Marcel, all of them, they didn’t stand a chance against Mr. Pelter and his flunkies. Images of his friend's mangled corpses flashed through Evan’s mind and standing above their cold lifeless bodies was Mr. Pelter just smiling while Delirious stood in the shadows farther back watching them both. A loud pop pulled Evan away from the horror show in his mind. 

Delirious's hand was less than a centimeter away from the tip of Evan’s mask and he watched as a bullet tore through, it’s soft flesh and bones. Delirious let out a scream in pain and surprise before letting go of Evan and ducking down behind a car. Another shot rang out and there was a spark from where a bullet ricocheted off of the car behind where Delirious use to be. 

Evan fell back on to the ground and back peddled away from Delirious as fast as he could. He looked back to where the shots came from and saw the policewoman who had helped her wounded friend get back to the barricade. Delirious gripped his hand in pain and swore under his breath glaring at the officer from behind the car. Delirious then winced like something loud just went off inches from his face, and brought his hand up to his ear. 

After a minute Delirious snarled to himself “I know that” he gripped his hand trying to stop the bleeding, swearing under his breath as he did so. Evan took this time to crawl behind another car so that he would have a little bit of cover from Delirious and his unknown powers. “What good is a learning experience if I end up fucking dead!” Delirious said in a very loud whisper and Evan quickly realized he was talking into an earpiece. 

Delirious whispered something else but it was just quiet enough for him to not be able to make out what he said, but Evan could tell Delirious was mad when he slammed his injured fist into the ground instinctively only to yelp in pain and regret that decision. A few more seconds went by and both Evan and the office were in their own spots of cover each one of them waiting for Delirious to make a move. 

Evan saw Delirious reach into his jacket pocket and pull something out,but he couldn’t tell what it was because Delirious's hand covered most of the object so he readied himself anyway. He watched as Delirious pushed himself away from the car he was hiding behind and threw the object at the officer. Oh shit! Evan thought as grenade made its way through the air towards the officer. 

Evan ran out from his cover as fast as he could grabbed the woman and pulled her as far away from the grenade as he could, using his wings to shield her as best as he could. The grenade clanked on the ground a few feet away from them before going off. The blast knocked both Evan and the officer off their feet. Evan’s ears rang and he felt something warm running down his back, Evan looked behind himself and saw a small piece of shrapnel lodged into his flesh, He wrapped his fingers around it and tugged it out with a hiss. 

The officer let out a cough from the smoke and before she got up and ran over to Vanoss. “Are you all right?” She said looking him over, “I am fine” Evan croaked out while struggling to stand. The officer extended her hand and Evan took it. She hauled him to his feet and helped him steady himself. “Where did Delirious go.” Evan asked as he tried to look through the smoke the grenade had created. A small static sound echoed from the lady’s radio strapped to her vest. 

“We need back up now we can’t hold Delirious off and take care of the guys trying to set up the bomb.” One of the officers said as the gunfire filled in the background noise. “Guess that answers my question,” Vanoss said before he and the officer began to run towards the location of the bomb. 

By the time they got there bomb had been set up and the count down timer had already begun. Delirious was now providing covering fire for the two men that had set up the bomb and was trying to get them to their apparent getaway car which was a heavily armored truck that could ram through any police barricade. 

“What the situation,” the female officer asked one of her colleagues “they’ve started the count down and the bomb squad isn’t here yet. And No one here knows how to disable a bomb properly.” Evan glanced up at the bomb strapped to the support post of the bridge. Evan needed to disable that bomb or at least get it far enough away so that it would blow up over the river and not hurt anyone. Evan looked at the two officers in front of him then at Delirious. 

An Idea sprung into Evan’s head and he smiled underneath his mask. “Okay I have a plan but I need your help,” He said and the other officer gave him a look of distrust. “Don’t worry” The female officer said and placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder “We can trust him he saved my life and bought me enough time to get Tim back to the paramedics” He nodded his head and gave Evan a look of gratitude. “So what’s the plan.” 

“We give Delirious a taste of his own medicine,” Evan reached into one of his supply pouches on his belt and pulled out a slender cylinder with a pin in its top. “It’s not a grenade but it'll do the trick” He handed it over to the man in front of him. “I need you to throw this at Delirious when the time is right and I need you to provide covering fire for me,” Evan said turning to the girl. They both nodded their heads and readied themselves. “Okay on my signal” 

Evan watched as Delirious ran out of rounds in his clip and went to replace it. “Now!” Evan said and the two officers sprang into action. The man pulled the pin and threw the flash grenade with deadly accuracy and it practically landed at Delirious's feet. Delirious tried to dive out of the way but it went off blinding him and his two teammates. Evan bolted out from his cover and straight for the bomb. 

Delirious recovered faster then what Evan thought he would and began firing at him as he ran across the bridge. Bullets ricocheted off of the floor around Evan's feet and he covered his head with his hands hoping not to get hit. The female cop shot out of her cover and began returning fire at Delirious forcing him to duck below for cover stopping him from being able to shoot at Evan. Evan ran up to the bomb 40 seconds remaining. 

“Holy shit!” Evan said as he stared at the mess of wires in front of him. He didn’t have time to think he just needed to get this contraption as far away from the bridge as he can and fast. Evan tore at the straps holding the bomb down snapping them, and the bomb slid off the pole to the floor. It landed with a clank and Evan cringed as it did, feeling a bit lucky that it didn’t go off. 

“Stop him!” Delirious yelled and the two men began to fire at Evan as well. Evan dove behind the pole trying to make sure he was completely covered as he heard bullets ricocheted off of the back of the pole. Evan could barely see the timer on the bomb. 25 seconds. Evan began to panic he had to get that bomb out of here. Evan waited a bit for the bullet to let up but they didn’t. 15 seconds. 

“Fuck it.” Evan gathered his will a created a fireball within his hand, he stepped out from behind the pole and threw it at Delirious and his men hoping to distract them as long as possible. A bullet whizzed passed Evan’s face as he ran forward scooped up the bomb and pushed off of the ground with his legs allowing his wings to carry him up towards the sky. 10 seconds. 

Evan was barely off the ground when he felt a sharp pain erupted out from his leg, followed rounds of bullets being shot at him from Delirious. Luckily only one found its target and was now deeply implanted into Evan's left leg. Evan hissed in pain, 5 seconds… He was now a good 5 meters away from the bridge and Evan used all his strength to hurl the bomb as far away from himself as possible, he didn’t actually throw it that much farther maybe another meter or two much less then he wanted to. 

Evan then wrapped his wings around himself as tightly as possible in hopes to shield himself just as the bomb went off. All Evan could feel was pain and his eyes refused to work. Slowly but surely his vision returned and he could see the river’s surface approaching fast, he was falling. Evan tried to move his wings to slow his dissent but he could only move one. Evan looked over his shoulder in a panic and at his right-wing afraid to see it completely blown off but in partial relief the was only a large gash running across it with a piece of metal still sticking out of the wound. 

Evan tried again but it still refused to move, he desperately tried to make his wing work but he couldn’t do it. Evan looked back down at the water which was much closer now and closed his eyes as he braced for impact and soon all Evan could feel was the cold grasp of the river. 

Evan stirred a bit, he couldn’t move and he felt very very cold. He tried to open his eyes but they refused to budge. Evan stayed like this for another minute trying to remember what had happened, “oh that’s right... I fell” Evan said to himself “does this mean I am dead” Evan felt as if he was being dragged across rocks and somehow it got even colder. He could hear a faint muffled voice far in the distance. Evan tried to move again and he felt his fingers twitch a bit. 

The voice became a little louder. “Is he going to be okay! How badly is he hurt!” They sound panicked and a bit familiar. Evan managed to pry his eyes open but was forced to close them again to shield them from the blinding light of the sun overhead. “He’s coming to, Evan can you hear me,” another voice said. 

Evan's eyes focus on the man kneeling next to him and managed to weakly smile. “Maybe I should have an extra earpiece on me at all times” Nogla smiled and was filled with relief “thank god your alive, we thought we lost you for a minute there.” Evan tried to sit up but Nogla put his hand on Evan's chest and pushed him back down. “Don’t move we still don’t know how bad your injuries are, your wing is an absolute mess” Evan didn’t say anything but instead looked around. 

He was laying in a river bed, his legs were still partly summered in the water, and he could hear some helicopters and sirens off in the distance. “did I do it? the bomb didn’t go off right?” “Well the bomb went off, but you got it far enough from the bridge that no one got hurt, except for you.” Evan smiled a bit, Craig came run down the bank holding a medical kit and a few towels in his hands. “Is he okay! Is he awake yet!” He practically screamed making Evan’s ears hurt. 

Lui followed behind him picking up all the supplies that the frantic Craig was dropping. Evan weakly lifted his hand to acknowledge Craig. Every muscle in his arm burned and screamed in protest, but Evan managed to smile and Craig practically fell to his knees in relief "Oh thank God" Craig said as he handed Nogla the medical kit. “your lips are fricken purple” Lui said as he wrapped a towel around Evan.

Evan hadn’t realized that he was shivering, being practically the middle of winter the river must have been nearly freezing and who knows how long he was in there before his friend managed to pull him out. Nogla wrapped his wing, leg and placed a patch on Evan’s back as best as he could, trying to sanitize the wounds as well. Evan’s shivering became more violent and he grew more and more pale as he laid there on the shore in his soaking wet clothes. 

“Come on Nogla we need to get him out of here and somewhere warm before the police find us." Lui said as he keeping an eye out for any bystanders. They could hear a helicopter getting closer, and Nogla let out a sigh. "This is a good as it's going to get till we can get you back home" Evan nodded his head and tried to stand up on his own. 

His knees collapsed underneath himself and Nogla caught him before he face planted into the ground. "Easy there Evan, we've got you." Lui ran over and threw Evan's left arm over his shoulder while Nogla took his right. They carried Evan up the bank and to a van pulled off on the side of the road and that was partly hidden in the bushes. 

Craig collected Evan's mask off of the beach and carried the rest of the supplies back to the van. He opened the door and help Nogla and Lui get Evan in the van. Evan let out a hiss of pain when his injured wing clipped the frame of the car. Nogla helped him lay down on the floor of the van and began working on his wounds again. Lui closed the back of the van, got into the driver seat while Craig got into the front passager seat. 

Lui started the van and drove down the street trying to make the ride as smooth as possible while still driving as fast as he could. Evan still was shivering and Nogla gave him a new dry towel to try and warm him up. Craig fussed with the AC trying to turn on the heat but it wouldn't start. Evan felt his eyes start to grow heavier and he slowly let himself fall into a deep sleep. 

Evan woke up in a bed the curtains had been drawn letting in little rays of lights through the blinds Evan rubbed his eyes, his arms were sore but they didn't hurt as bad as they did before. Evan slowly sat up his one wing was wrapped from tip to tip in bandages as were his leg and part of his back. 

The rest of his body was cover in bruises and small cuts and scratches. Evan stood up out of bed and practically fell to the floor when his left leg gave out. Evan hissed to himself and glared at the leg he was shot in. Evan stood up slowly and gradually eased his weight on his left leg. It hurt but at least it didn’t give out again. 

Evan was in Nogla’s bedroom and there where two sleeping dogs resting in the corner of the room. Evan smiled at Joe and Tony before carefully tiptoeing out of the room so that he didn’t wake them up. Evan walked down the hallway using the wall as support, he hobbled into the bedroom with the bookshelf that hid the entrance to the base. He ran his hand along the shelf until he found a little nitch in the wood and grabbed the book that was behind the grove and pulled it. The shelf made a clicking noise and Evan was able to pull it open and walked down the stairs. 

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he saw Nogla passed out on the couch quietly snoring. Evan frowned at the bottle in his hand but continued down to where he believed Craig was. Evan walked carefully down the next flight of stairs not wanting to trip. 

He felt like hell, Every muscle was sore and ached. His nose was sealed shut and his head pounded. Evan reached the surveillance room and poked his head in the room was dark except for the illuminating blue light of a computer screen in the far end of the room. He could see Craig's silhouette sitting in front of his laptop typing away. Evan drugged himself over to him. 

“What are you working on?” Craig practically jumped out of his skin. “Jesus Christ Evan! Don’t do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack and why are you even out of bed you should be resting. "Sorry," Evan said rubbing the back of his head "what are you doing?" he repeated. Craig let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, "Just cleaning up my cyber trail so they can't trace it back to me and find our location" 

"They? Who did you hack this time?" Evan said slightly amused but also concerned. It would be bad if Craig got caught cyber snooping by anyone, is hard to hide on the internet, but Evan had full confidence in Craig. He was the best hacker/ info broker around if he wanted to hide his trail he could do it.

 

“Well, since you decided to be so reckless,” Craig said with an emphasis on reckless. “and by not taking your earpiece, I had to go through lots of trouble to figure out what was going on!" “I am sorry,” Evan said for the again “But I wouldn't have had enough time to run here and then to the bridge.” "Well, we can’t do anything now besides I think it helped us more than hindered. Besides you, all most dying and all.” 

“How did you know I fell into the river by the way?” Craig's smile grew “I hacked into their communication system." Craig spun in his chair to face his laptop again and pulled up some audio clips up so Evan could see them. Evan leaned against the desk next to him looking over Craig's shoulder. “At first I thought I caught some random signal by mistake because it was coming from across the city. Here listen.” He dragged his cursor across the screen and clicked the triangle play button. 

“Is this the last of it?” the voice came out garbled and distorted with static filling in the gaps between dialogue, but it was clear enough to understand what was being said. “Yes just putting the last crate on the truck now” another voice replied through the static. “Well hurry up Mr. Pelter will not be happy if we are even a minute late”. The man laughed a bit is his partner’s paranoia “We’ll be fine the plan is working perfectly.” His friend was unconvinced “You never know what’s going to happen Delirious might not be able to distract them long enough.” 

The man let out a sigh.“Look I am getting in the truck now, I’ll meet you at the drop off point in less than an hour.” “Okay see you then” the audio clip ended and Craig turned to look at Evan. “So what do you think.” Evan stared at the screen for a second before muttering “So the bridge was just a diversion?” 

“It would appear so,” Craig said, “Here I have one more for you to listen to.” He pressed play and the clip began. ”Delirious your men are being overrun, they can’t finish planting the bomb under police fire!” 

“I know that” Delirious snarled he sounded like he was in pain and Evan grinned to himself knowing why. “You should have provided me with more men!” “This is a good learning experience for you” the voice replied coolly unfazed by Delirious's angry tone. “You never know when you’ll be short-handed.” 

“What good is a learning experience if I end up fucking dead! And why does it even matter if the bomb goes off or not this is just a distraction!” Delirious let out a small yelp of pain and swore a bit under his breath, he must have hit his hand on something and Evan remembered him slamming his fist onto the ground. 

“This is more than just a distraction! It’s an opportunity!” “How the hell is this an opportunity?” Delirious asked “It’s an opportunity to be rid of that nasty thorn in my side. Use what has been given to you to defeat Vanoss and send a message to any other want a be heroes that even dare to think about standing in my way!” 

There was a small pause before Delirious responded “Fine”


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Hello! Sorry about this taking so long, It’s been a rough week. We are about to enter Easter break at my school so all the teachers are dropping a bunch of test all at once. And a bunch of other things like my car being stolen but I got it back with not that much damage. Anyways! Here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it and leave a review. Sorry if I missed any grammar or spelling errors I missed.

The clips stopped and Craig looked at Evan “They’re using these past two operations as cover.” He said “I am still looking into it, I am just making sure that I didn’t leave a back door into our system that they could use to locate us. Evan nodded his head and practically fell over from lightheadedness. Craig stood up and caught Evan as he started to sway and helped lower him into a chair. “Evan are you okay!” 

Evan shook his head “I feel like I got hit by a truck.” Craig placed his hand on Evan’s forehead but yanked it away fast fanning it. “Dude you’re burning up! You need to see Nogla now!” Craig said moving to help Evan. Evan shook his head and stood up on his own. “no it’s fine, I don’t want to wake him. Besides, I think it’s just a small fever from falling into the cold water” 

“small fevers don’t burn other people's hands” Craig muttered looking at his red hand and giving Evan an unconvinced look. Evan turned to leave but Craig stopped him “Wait, Evan! I grabbed this for you” and handed him his backpack that he had left behind a dumpster back at the bridge. “Oh thanks,” Evan said slinging it over his shoulder. 

“your clothes and super suit are in there and also..." He tossed Evan a small box "Lui made you this.” He opened it up and saw a brand new earpiece. “go ahead and turn it on I want to make sure it is fully functional” Evan pressed a button and the device flashed blue every 10 seconds to signal it was on. Evan placed it into his ear and Craig slipped on his own headset with a mic. “Testing! Testing!” Craig stated “I read you loud and clear Craig,” Evan said taking out the earpieces and tossed it into his backpack. 

“Tell Lui I said thanks” Craige nodded his head and turned back to his laptop and resumed typing away. Evan made his way back to his car and drove very slowly and carefully back to his dorm. He trudged through the lobby and up into his room. He kicked his backpack underneath his bed before collapsing into it and passing out. 

Jonathan stared at the empty seat next to him wondering where his friend was. He hadn’t seen Evan in three days and he wasn’t answering any of his texts or calls. Jonathan hadn’t released how much he enjoyed Evan’s company. 

He always had a warm glow about him and somehow by just sitting next to him made things seem a little less dark. Jonathan could feel haunting memories start to creep over him when he thought about his past and wished Evan was there to help keep his mind off of them. He continued to stare at Evan’s seat and couldn’t help but feel worried for him. Where was he? Where ever he was Jonathan was going to kill him for making him worry. 

The bell rang and all the students started to file out as the teacher tried to assign last minute homework. Jonathan walked down the hallway feeling glummer then usual, he always looked forward to his interactions with Evan and without them, he couldn’t help but felt like he was missing something. Jonathan continued to walk down the hallway deep within his own mind. He felt a weight on his shoulders and looked to see a tall man wearing a gray hoody wrap his arms around him and pull him in for a large bear-like hug. 

“Hi, Ryan.” Jonathan said as he was being crushed, he swore he heard some of his bones pop. “Hi, Jonathan!” Ryan said smiling brightly. “Chipper as always!” another man said as he steps towards them he wore a red jacket with a little devil embroider on the back, he also sported quite a majestic beard for a college student. Jonathan smiled at the newcomer and so did Ryan, “Hi Luke, how did you do on the history test” Ryan said. “Oh please… I failed that,” He said smiling and they all laughed a bit. 

“Hey we don’t have a math test today right,” He asked them and both Jonathan and Ryan gave him a look of pity. “Ah shit, we do don’t we,” Luke said rubbing the back of his head. Jonathan nodded and pulled out his study guide handing it to Luke “You’ve got about 10 minutes before class starts, study.” Luke stared at the paper for a second before saying “talk about waiting to the last minute.” 

Jonathan sighed and prayed for his friend’s grade that was going to take a major hit today. The three of them all started to make their way towards the math wing that was on the other side of the campus. Luke had his head buried in Jonathan's study guide and was bumping into people. So Ryan took the job of guiding him through the crowd as best he could. They finally arrived at the classroom just as the bell rang and walked inside. 

They all sat down at their desk in the auditorium shape room, Jonathan sat in the 4th row and on the edge with Luke on his right. Ryan sat in the row behind Jonathan and was elevated a little higher than him. Jonathan stared at the board in front of the room waiting for class to start. He glanced over at Luke to see if he was done using his study guide but instead found Luke staring at him and not the study guide. “What?” Jonathan asked giving Luke an odd look. “You’re too quiet, what’s wrong?” 

“Um, what do you mean, nothing's wrong.” Luke stared at him harder and Jonathan looked away “Is it your, you know…job?” Luke said with air quotes around the word job. Jonathan felt ashamed at the mention of his “Job” and the fact that Luke knew about all the horrible things he had done under the name of Delirious and yet somehow he remained his friend. 

He stuck by his side through the thick and thin just like he said he would and it made Jonathan feel lucky. “no, surprising it’s not that” Jonathan muttered looking back at Luke. Jonathan raised an eyebrow when a smile appeared on Luke’s face, and he suddenly got a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Luke leaned in and nudged Jonathan with his elbow. 

“Oh I know what it is!” he said his smile widening “It’s because that Evan guy that you are always talking about hasn’t been here for the past few days isn’t it.” Jonathan blushed a bit and Luke leaned in closer and took a big sniff. “Do I smell a crush?” Jonanath’s cheeks flushed even more and he looked away from Luke “No! he’s just a friend!” Luke leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed “Sure he is…” Jonathan turned to argue but the teacher walked in before he was able to get a word in. 

Jonathan slouched in his seat as the teacher handed out the math test. The teacher placed a test in front of Jonathan, and he clicked his mechanical pencil and began writing on his test. Jonathan felt his mind be pulled away from the test and found himself thinking about Luke and all the danger he put him in because he knew his secret. 

Jonathan hadn’t meant for him to find out he was Delirious but he was stupid and being irrational. Being Delirious hadn't been serious for him yet. He was essentially just Mr. Pelter chauffeur. He would some times accompany him to meetings but he never really knew what they were talking about, though they always did leave with a suitcase filled with cash rarely the other way around. 

The whole thing was fishy but Jonathan never thought twice about it, he just did as he was told. But that all changed after his first real mission that he had to do for the mafia. Jonathan sat alone in front of Mr. Pelter's desk waiting for him to enter the office. He stared at the large empty leather chair in front of him. He didn’t know why he was there, He didn't know why had he been called in so formally, normally Mr. Pelter would just talk to him if he needed Jonathan to go with him anywhere. 

It was never a good sign if you actually got called in. He’s heard rumors about horrible things that happen to people who get personally called in. But he couldn’t bring himself to believe in any of them, Mr. Pelter was a nice man and wouldn’t hurt him or anybody else for that matter. He glanced around the room and his eyes scanned the various titles of the books that lined the shelves on the wall. 

Jonathan smiled a bit when he remembered sitting in the corner of the room as a child with piles of children's books stacked around to him while his father and Mr. Pelter chatted and laughed. Jonathan frowned slightly when he thought of his father. He remembered the night he last saw him when he caught his father standing at the front door. 

Little Jonathan stood in the doorway rubbing his tired eyes and gave out a little yawn. “Where are you going, dad.” He said looking up to the tall man standing just outside the front door. The man breathed heavily through his nose and set the suitcase in his hand down on the floor. He knelt down in front of little Jonathan and cupped his checks in his hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “Nothing sneaks past you, does it, Jonathan.” He said smiling and Jonathan giggled. “I need to go on a quick business trip, and I didn't want to wake you.” 

“Again !” Jonathan pouted crossing his arms. He chuckled and ruffled Jonathan’s messy hair. “Don’t worry it only before a few days, besides you get to stay with Uncle Pelter, he'll be over in the morning to come get you so have all your things packed okay” Jonathan nodded his head and smiled. “Oh wait! I wanted to show you something!” Little Jonathan exclaimed and ran deeper into the house. 

He returned a second later with a glass full of water. Jonathan’s father smiled as he watched Jonathan place the glass on the floor between them. Jonathan closed his eyes and focused on the glass, the water began to swirl within and a thin stream of water rose up and began to swirl around in the air. “Don’t you think it’s cool!” Jonathan said as he watched the water. His father stared in awe as the water floated around the room with a bright smile on his face. “Just like your mother ”He said under his breath” 

“What?” Jonathan said looking up at his father “I said this is amazing Jonathan!” His father told still watching the stream of water. Jonathan’s face was filled with pride “Watch I can actually control where it goes” Jonathan moved his hand to the left and the strand of water followed his movements. Jonathan pushed his two hands together and the water gather and formed a blob and slowly lowered back into the glass. “What do you think! I can’t wait to show this to Uncle Pelter” 

“No!” His father said suddenly startling Jonathan. “No? but why not?” He asked “I can’t tell you why but never show this to your Uncle! Never show your powers to anyone but me, Do you understand Jonathan!” He didn’t understand but he nodded his head anyway. “Good,” his father said and brought Jonathan in for a hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. 

“I'll be back in less than a week,” He said standing up and picking up his suitcase. “And when I get back we’ll go to that water park you’ve always wanted to go to okay?” Jonathan’s eyes light up and nodded his head. His father slowly started to shut the front door “I love you Jonathan” 

“I love you too dad!” Little Jonathan said and the door clicked shut. The sound of the door closing startled Jonathan snapping him out of his memories. Jonathan swiveled in his seat and watched as Mr. Pelter walked in with a folder tucked under his arm. He smiled a bit at Jonathan as he sat down in his own chair across from him. Jonathan stared at him nervously clutching his hands to keep them from shaking. ”Good morning Jonathan how has your day been?” he said trying to keep it friendly. “It’s been fine woke up maybe less than an hour ago” 

“I can tell…” Mr. Pelter said eyeing Jonathan’s messy hair. Jonathan blushed a bit in embarrassment and tried to flatten down his hair with his hands. “So... what did you want to talk to me about,” He asked. Mr. Pelter sighed and sat there for a second as if thinking about what to say or how to say his next words. This made Jonathan even more nervous and he had to clench his fists even harder to stop them from shaking. 

“I think it’s time you take your father’s place in my business” Jonathan gave Mr. Pelter a confused look. “my father’s place?” “Yes, I think it’s time that you take up your father's role in the business.” 

“Haven’t I’ve been doing that already?” Jonathan said. “Son, you haven’t even scratched the surface” He tossed the folder in front of Jonathan “Your father was the underbelly of this business, he did the dirty jobs to keep us afloat.” Jonathan eyed Mr. Pelter warily before opening up the file. There was a picture of a man that Jonathan had never seen before and various general info on the man plus his current location. “His name is Tim Goodman, and he has some very important information that I need to make sure never gets out” 

“Okay…” Jonathan said “what does this have to do with me or my dad” “Your dad was my... enforcer," Mr. Pelter said as if trying to think of a better word then what he was going to use. "if I need someone gone I’d send your father to deal with it” 

“What are you saying?” Jonathan said. “I want you to take care of him” Jonathan looked up at Mr. Pelter with a look of surprise and terror. “What?” Jonathan asked. “I am not saying you have to kill him, you just have to be sure that he never spills any of those secrets, do you understand me?” Jonathan nodded his head “So I just have to make sure he doesn’t talk” 

Mr. Pelter nodded “but before you go I wanted to give you this” He reached down and pulled open one of the bottom drawers of his desk. He pulled out a wooden box and pushed it towards Jonathan. He opened the box slowly, there was a beautiful knife resting on a blanket of red velvet. He picked it up and examined the blade, It’s hilt was nicely curved with a blue gem set into the side. Its blade was wavey like water and had a slight blue tint to it. Jonathan stared at it in awe, before setting it back into the box. 

“that was your father’s blade, and I am sure he would have wished for you to have it.” Jonathan stared at it a bit longer and felt a nauseous feeling growing in the pit of his stomach while looking at the blade. He looked up at Mr. Pelter. “I can’t take it,” A look of confusion brushed over Mr. Pelter face. “I am not a killer!” Jonathan said firmly and pushed the box away. 

Mr. Pelter's face returned to his usual blank expression as he took the box back and stuffed it back into the desk “Very well… Just get the job done Jonathan” Jonathan stood up grabbed the file and stomped out of the room. Mr. Pelter watched Jonathan leave and smiled to himself, he looked over to the picture frames on his desk and picked it up. 

“Oh Howard, your son is just like you, He’s too soft.” He placed the photo down and spun in his chair away from it. “I’ll be sure to change that” Jonathan went to his room and suited up, he threw on his blue jacket and placed his pistol in a hip holster. He grabbed his mask and ran out the door. 

Jonathan stood in the alleyway with his mask covering his face staring up at the moon and the stars. He looked down deeper into the ally and watched a steel door that was the side entrance to a bar. He continued to wait there for another 20 minutes before the door swung open pretty aggressively. 

A man wearing a suit walked out with a cigarette in his mouth, he let out a puff of smoke and stared up at the moon. Jonathan watched the man smoke a little longer before stepping out of the darkness and into the light. 

“Mr. Goodman” The man stiffened a bit and looked over towards Jonathan taking the cigarette out of his mouth. “Depends, why are you asking” His hand slipping into his jacket. “I am here to make sure you keep your promise of silence to Mr. Pelter,” The man let out an amused laugh “You must be new to this kid, so I’ll give you a change for you to live, leave now and you’ll never see me again.” Jonathan stood there for a second “I am not here to hurt you, I just need to make sure you keep your silents.’’ 

“What are you going to do if I don’t,” Mr. Goodman said. Jonathan froze he hadn't thought about that. The man smiled "That's what I thought" and pulled his hand out from his jacket with a pistol. Jonathan’s eyes widened and the gun went off. The bullet ripped through Jonathan’s shoulder and pain flared throughout his body. Mr. Goodman slipped the gun back into his jacket and walked over to Jonathan who was double over gripping his shoulder. 

The man kicked Jonathan into the ribs and picked him up by his hood. "You're pathetic kid, I'll be sure to end your miserable life here" He began pounding Jonathan in the face with his fists. Fear and panic set into Jonathan and adrenal began to pump through Jonathan's body. He gathered those fears instinctively and brought his hands down. 

A stream of water slammed into Mr. Goodman knocking him off. Jonathan quickly pulled out his own gun from his hostler and fired it through the man’s head. Mr. Goodman’s body slumped over and fell limply onto the ground. Jonathan dropped his gun to the ground and practically puked from what he just did. He heard sirens coming closer, he picked up his gun and staggered out of the ally as fast as he could. 

His arm burned badly as blood leaked through his jacket. He felt his eyes grow heavier and heavier but he managed to somehow find his way into a suburban-like area. He reached a house that he recognized and pulled himself over the house's back wall. He landed in a heap in the backyard and pulled himself to a window at the side of the house, he leaned against the wall and tapped on the window. 

The window slid open and Luke popped his head out “Jonathan!” Luke said when he saw his friend a bloody mess. “Get inside!” Luke pulled his friend into his room through his window, Jonathan hissed in pain when he landed on his shoulder. Luke ran out of the room and returned with a medical kit. “What the hell happened to you,” Luke said and Jonathan clucked his mask. Jonathan explained to Luke everything that had happened as Luke tried to wrap Jonathan’s wounds. 

“Your adopted dad is Mr. Pelter ” Luke said in shock. Jonathan nodded as he kept pressure on his gunshot wound. “He’s the leader of the mafia Jonathan,” Luke said as he packed up the medical kit. “I didn’t want to believe it,” Jonathan said not looking Luke in the eye. “Well what are you going to do?” Luke asked, “I don’t know…” Jonathan said letting his headrest against the fall. “Just let me sleep for a bit” 

Luke let out a sigh “you’ve got to go to the hospital man” Jonathan shook his head “I can’t the police will be looking for anyone who has been shot and if they find me it won’t be long before the connect me to Mr. Goodman” 

“Ah shit, I still can’t believe you killed someone” Jonathan held his head in his hands “I didn’t want to!” he said, “I tried to resolve without escalating things but he pulled the gun first.” Jonathan began to sob to himself and Luke knelt down beside him. “Hey, no matter what happens I am here for you okay” 

“Even though I am a murder.” Luke pulled him in for a hug “Even if you are a murder” Jonathan smiled a bit at this and let his head fall back on the wall. Luke stood up picked up the medical kit and walked out of the bedroom to put it away. Jonathan wiped away his tears and smiled a bit at Luke’s kindness. 

He heard footsteps getting closer to the door. Jonathan looked up and began to speak “Hey Luke…” But Jonathan stopped when he saw who was at the door. Mr. Pelter stood there with Luke next to him. Luke had a terrified look on his face and Jonathan saw the bright silver gleam of a revolver pressed up against Luke’s head. 

“I knew you would be here,” Mr. Pelter said smiling, “I take it things didn’t go so well” he looked over the battered Jonathan who was struggling to stand. Jonathan used the wall as support “What do you want!” Jonathan growled. “I am here to take you home Jonathan and to get your wounds treated better” “I am not going,” Jonathan said planting his feet “What…” Mr. Pelter said his blank expression never changing. “Didn’t you hear him he said he’s not going!” Luke growled and Mr. Pelter just eyed him. 

“And you are going to stop me?” he hissed and pressed the gun harder into Luke’s skull. “Luke!” Jonathan yelled “You need to learn your place boy” Mr. Pelter snarled, “Leave him alone!” Jonathan said. Mr. Pelter looked behind him and two bodyguards stepped into view “Grab him and throw him into the car, I’ll take care of the boy here” The two large men walked in and grabbed Jonathan by his arms and started to drag him out of the room. Mr. Pelter kicked the back of Luke’s legs causing him to fall onto his knees and pulled back the hammer on the gun. “No!” Jonathan screamed at the top of his lungs and bit down on the hand of one of the bodyguards. 

Blood filled Jonathan's mouth as the guard let out a scream and let go. Jonathan then kicked the other guard in the nether regions. Mr. Pelter smiled in amusement, as Jonathan broke free of the guard's grasped raced toward him. Jonathan swung his fist at his face and Mr. Pelter grabbed Jonathan by the wrist and twisted it driving him to the floor. Luke got back to his feet and also took a swing at Mr. Pelter. 

He caught it effortlessly and twisted his arm around his back and pushed him into the wall and held him there. He then stomped his foot down hard onto Jonathan’s back keeping him pinned to the floor. Mr. Pelter once again pushed his revolver against Luke’s head. “Jonathan I am giving you a choice here, come back with me pledge your loyalty and I’ll let your friend here live,” He said twisting Luke’s arm more causing him to yell in pain. Mr. Pelter pulled out the blue knife from one of his pockets and took his foot off of Jonathan. 

“You are practically my son Jonathan and I don’t want to hurt you or your friends, I only want what is best for you.” Jonathan slowly got up to his feet and stared at the knife. “Take the knife and become my right-hand man Jonathan just like your father” “Don’t do it Jonathan” Luke plead. Jonathan slowly stretched out his hand and gripped the knife. “Good,” Mr. Pelter said letting his grip loosen a bit on Luke’s arm “But just so you know if you even think about pulling something concider your friend here dead, You’ve got that” 

“Yes...” Jonathan said not looking Luke in the face. Mr. Pelter pulled Luke away from the wall and pushed him away. Luke tumbled and fell to the floor while Jonathan just watched. Mr. Pelter turned and walked out of the room “Come along Jonathan we have much to do” Mr. Pelter said coldly and Jonathan slowly followed not saying anything. Jonathan had just stepped outside when he heard Luke scream his name. 

Jonathan looked back and saw Luke running at him, But one of the bodyguards slammed the door closed before Luke could reach them. Jonathan turned away tears swelling in his eyes as he got into the car and they drove away back to their house. 

A tear dripped off of Jonathan’s nose and land on the math test in front of him smearing one of the problems. Jonathan snapped back into reality and stared at the blank test in front of him. He quickly looked up at the clock and saw that there were only 5 minutes of class left. 

“Shit…” Jonathan muttered to himself and he heard Luke snicker at his distress. Jonathan frantically wrote answers down onto the paper but he barely got through the first page before the teacher came and collected the test. Jonathan leaned back in his chair in frustration and Luke quickly stretched “well I failed” Luke said nonchalantly turning to chat with Ryan about the test. 

Jonathan frowned at his friends when he thought about how much danger he put them in. Even if Luke was right and he did like Evan as more than just a friend he couldn’t possibly bring himself to put him in harm's way that would just be selfish.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Hello! It’s finally spring break! I’ve finished another chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes I may have missed. 

Jonathan walked down the hallway with Luke and Ryan next to him arguing over what the answer was for number 30 on the math test they just took. “the answer was -86 Luke!” Ryan said trying to explain the steps of the problem. “Bullshit!” Luke said, "the answer was 2046.3428!” Ryan stared at Luke “Why is there so many decimals! Luke, I am telling you it’s -86” 

“No way you must have done something wrong,” Luke said waving Ryan off. “this coming from the guy that started studying ten minutes before class started.” Jonathan sneered at Luke smiling. “I’d trust Ryan’s answer more than yours,” Jonathan said and Ryan nodded in agreement. “What about you Mr. Zoned out for more than half of the test. I bet you didn’t even get to this problem did you!”

Jonathan turned away and crossed his arms “That’s not important!” Ryan tried to stifle a laugh “Wait really!” “Yea this guy was drooling all over his paper he was that out of it!” Luke teased “Did not!” Jonathan protested “This is the thanks I get for lending you, my study guide,” Jonathan said. Luke and Ryan laughed at Jonathan and he felt his face heat up. 

“I swear to God I will kill you two, if you don’t shut up” They eventually calmed down and continued walking towards the parking lot. Ryan left first since he had to catch a bus to make it back to his home. Luke left a little while later after being sure to continue to tease Jonathan about the fact that he didn’t finish the test and about Evan. Jonathan walked farther down the parking lot until he reached a 2012 BMW S1000RR, Bluefire. 

Jonathan ran his hand across his bike and smiled, He picked up a helmet that was strapped onto the handlebars. He was about to put on the helmet when he heard loud laughter. “Marcel!” Jonathan looked up and saw a tall man standing by a bright red Corvette. He was staring into the car with a shocked look on his face while all his friends were rolling on the ground in laughter. 

“You’re such a bitch!” The man yelled at one of them and threw open the car's front door. Jonathan watched in amusement as hundreds of little squishy beads poured out of the car. The man continued to mutter to himself as he started to scoop out the beads out of his car as Jonathan walked over to them. 

“What happened here?” Jonathan asked looking over Tyler’s shoulder. Tyler looked behind him and saw Jonathan standing there “Oh hey there Jonathan” Tyler said looking back at his car. Jonathan gave Tyler a surprised look 

“you know my name?” he asked “Yea Evan talks about you sometimes” Jonathan felt his heart race when he heard Evan talks about him to his friends “He does now,” Jonathan said crossing his arms trying to play it cool “What does he say about me.” Tyler rubbed the back of his head in frustration “Mostly good things but I was actually going to ask you if you have seen Evan lately I can’t get a hold of him at all, none of us can.” Tyler said looking back at his friend who were goofing around together. 

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Jonathan replied. He looked down at his watch and sighed “I guess I’ve got a little time before I need to be home. I’ll see if I can swing by his dorm to see if he’s there.” 

“Really you’ll do that” Tyler said in surprise “Of course he’s my friend too, I’ll let you know what I find out if anything,” Jonathan said as turned away and walked back towards his bike leaving Tyler to deal the giant mess Marcel left for him in his car. Jonathan threw on his helmet and started his bike. 

He revved the engine and waved to Tyler as he drove out of the parking lot. Jonathan swerved through traffic and about after a quick 5-minute drive, he pulled into the parking lot of the college dorms. He killed the engine, hung up his helmet and walked into the main lobby. Jonathan stood awkwardly in the elevator as he tried to remember what floor Evan’s room was on. He stared at the elevator buttons muttering to himself “is his room 3rd door 4th floor or 4th door 3rd floor” Jonathan went with his instincts and pressed the 4th button and wait for the elevator doors to close. 

He stepped out into the 4th-floor hallway and walked down to Evan’s room. He knocked on the door and waited, nothing happened. Jonathan again knocked on the door a little louder this time, again no one opened the door. Jonathan pressed his ear against the door and listened. He couldn’t hear any movement to indicate anyone was home. 

Jonathan felt his stomach twist, What if something had happened to Evan, What if he was hurt, what if he was kidnapped. Jonathan’s brain raced through all the horrible possibility that Jonathan has personally witnessed when an innocent person was forcibly dragged into the dark underbelly of the city. All the gangs, sex traffickers and of course the local mafia. Jonathan let out a sigh and pushed those feelings deep down. If Evan wasn’t in here and he couldn’t find him within the next few days then he would really worry. 

He had many connections with some unsavory people due to his position in the mafia so if something has happened to Evan it wouldn’t take long for him to find out. Jonathan glanced around the hallway and crouched down in front of the doorknob. He pulled out a small lock pick and started jamming it into the keyhole. He heard the lock click open and Jonathan shoved the pick back into his pocket and placed his hand on the handle. He hesitated for a second god he hoped that this was actually Evan’s room and pushed the door open. 

Jonathan barely had any time to react when he saw something swinging down at his head. He ducked down and threw himself into the attacker and they both went down to the floor. Jonathan pinned the man’s arms down and a pan crashed to the floor next to them. “Evan! You dunce! It’s me, Jonathan!” 

“Jonathan!” Evan said in surprise “did you just break into my room?” Evan yelled still pinned to the floor. “well its not my fault that you wouldn’t answer the door” Jonathan yelled back, “I thought you could have been dead!” “Dead? Why would you think that?” Evan questioned, “Noone has been able to reach you for the past three days.” Jonathan said crossing his arms but still stayed on top of Evan. 

“I literally just woke up less than a minute ago,” Evan said and Jonathan raised an eyebrow “you've been asleep for three days straight?” Jonathan stared at Evan in disbelief and he quickly realized how horrible Evan looked. He was pale and cold sweat beads formed on Evan’s forehead. “umm Jonathan” Evan asked “hmm” Jonathan said “could you get off of me” Jonathan felt his face turned bright red when he realized he was just stared at Evan and straddling him on the floor. “oh yeah, sorry” Jonathan muttered pushing himself off of Evan. 

Jonathan reached his hand out and helped Evan back up to his feet. They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before Jonathan cleared his throat “Well since you are not dead I guess I’ll be on my way now” He said as he turned to leave. “Well, you don’t have to leave,” Evan said rubbing the back of his head. Jonathan gave him a slightly confused look.

“Well you came all this way just to check up on me might as well stay for a few rounds of Mario Cart” Evan said smiling, Jonathan frowned at his even though Evan was smiling he looked like he was going to pass out any minute. “Dude have you been to the hospital, you look like hell” Evan shook his head “Nah I’m fine just a little cold, come on I’ll turn on the switch.” 

Jonathan glanced down at his watch and figured he had enough time to play a few rounds before he needed to be home because of his curfew that had been set by Mr. Pelter. Jonathan shut the door behind himself and followed Evan deeper into the dorm. Jonathan walked passed a very small kitchen that had a tiny fridge and a stovetop with very little counter space. Beyond that to the right was a small hallway that Jonathan could only guess was where Evan’s bedroom and bathroom probably was. Straight off of the kitchen was a small living room with a two-seater couch a small coffee table and a television mounted on the wall. There were also two glass sliding doors that lead out to a small balcony with a glass table and a plastic chair overlooking the courtyard of the dorms. 

Jonathan stood there while as Evan turned on the switch glancing around the room. “I guess you’re right there’s no way we would have been able to build the boat in here.” Jonathan stated as Evan handed him a controller. “yea it’s pretty small” Evan laughed a bit as they both sat down on to the couch. They played a few rounds and much to Jonathan’s dismay Evan was way better than him. 

Evan constantly got first place while Jonathan would get last. Jonathan felt an unholy rage building up inside of himself as he hit a banana peel and spun off the road right in front of the finish line. “Oh My God!” Jonathan screeched and Evan laughed as he passed him and finished in first once again. “I was so close! I was going to win, where the hell did that banana peel come from!” Evan continued to laugh but it was weaker than the first time. 

“I call a rematch” Jonathan cried completely forgetting the time. “Okay then…” Evan said as he restarted the game. “you’re just going to lose again” Evan coughed into his arm and the game started. Jonathan clutched his controller and focused on the TV. He finally managed to pass Evan on the third lap and crossed the finish line first. “Yes!! I finally won!” Jonathan said as he pumped his fist in the air. 

“Good for you man” Evan croaked out and he started coughing again. Jonathan waited for Evan to stop but he didn’t, He kept coughing and coughing and Evan started to turn blue. “Evan! Are you okay!” Jonathan said moving to help Evan. Evan shook his head stood up and ran out of the room. Jonathan followed him and watched Evan run into the bathroom and close the door. 

He approached the door and could hear Evan heaving into the toilet. Jonathan knocked softly on the door “Are you okay Evan, do you need help?” “No I am fine,” Evan said softly “You’re not fine Evan I am coming in” Jonathan said as he pushed the door open slowly. “No don’t come…” Evan started to said but he was interrupted by having to hurl once again into the toilet. Jonathan crouched down next to Evan and tried to soothe him by rubbed his back in tiny circles. They stayed like this for another 10 minutes and Jonathan reached over and grabbed a small waud of toilet paper and handed it to Evan who used it to wipe his mouth. 

Evan pulled the handle on the toilet and flushed it. He used the seat to push himself up to feet but practically fell back to the floor from lightheadedness. Jonathan caught Evan and they staggered out of the bathroom, He placed his hand on Evan’s forehead and had to yank it away “Holy shit! Evan, You are burning up literally, We need to get you to a hospital.” Evan shook his head “No I have a friend who’s a doctor just call him” Evan tried to lean on the wall and pulled out his phone unlocking it and handed it to Jonathan with his contacts open “don’t you think going to the hospital would be better” 

“No he’s a really good doctor plus since he’s a friend so the checkup is free.” Evan said trying to come up with a good excuse to have Jonathan call Nogla. “Evan if it’s the money you’re worried about I can help with…” 

“No” Evan said cutting Jonathan off “Just call him,” Jonathan grumbled to himself “Fine, what’s his name” “David” Evan said and Jonathan sighed putting the phone to his ear waiting for David to pick up. “Hey Evan, Craig told me you weren’t feeling too good when you left the other day, are you feeling better?” a man with a thick Irish accent said into the phone. “Hi actually I am not Evan” Jonathan said glace over at Evan who was leaning against the wall panting. 

“I’m his friend Jonathan, he told me to call you,” “oh really” David a bit surprised “Is everything alright” His voice now filled with concerned. “No Evan is burning up and I told him to go to the hospital” Jonathan said glaring at Evan who just weakly smiled back “but he told me to call you instead” 

“Son of a… Damn it Evan!” David swore into the phone. “I’ll be there as fast as I can, thanks for calling me” He said as he hung up the phone. Jonathan handed the phone back over to Evan who shoved it back into his pocket. “he said he’ll be there as fast as he can” Evan nodded and tried to push himself off the wall but almost fell again. “God damn it Evan!” Jonathan said as he caught him. He threw his arm over his shoulder and dragged Evan down the hall and kicked his bedroom door open. 

Jonathan hauled him over to his bed and threw him into it. Evan was passed out before his head even hit the pillow. Jonathan sighed as he looked down at Evan laying partly on the bed, He pulled off Evan’s shoes and pushed his legs up so that they rested on the bed and tore the covers out from underneath Evan and tossed them to the side. Evan was already burning up and it wouldn’t be a good idea to bury him in blankets. So instead he pulled a thin sheet over Evan. 

Jonathan glanced out the window in Evan’s room and saw that it was dark. He quickly looked down at his watch and saw it was at least 30 minutes past his curfew, “Shit…” Jonathan muttered and turned to leave, he stopped when his hand wouldn’t move with him. He looked down and saw Evan's hand wrapped around his tightly. Jonathan looked over at Evan and saw that he was fast asleep before looking back down at their hands. Jonathan just stared at them but internally his heart and mind was screaming like a psychotic fangirl. 

“Ah what the hell… I am late already.” Jonathan smiled to himself “I can be late a little more” he whispered and he sat down on the floor next to Evan their hand’s still intertwined. Jonathan stared at his phone looking threw various memes as Evan snored above him on the bed for about an hour. Something flashed from under the bed grabbing Jonathan's attention. He watched the shadows underneath the bed waiting to see if he saw the flash again. 

A blue flashlight up the underside of the bed from the inside of a backpack. Jonathan looked away from the flash and returned to watching at memes on his phone. The flashes continued and Jonathan's curiosity continued to grow. Jonathan reached under the bed and had to stretch to grab the straps of the backpack and started to pull it towards himself. 

Loud knocks from the front door caused Jonathan to jump and hit his head on the bottom of the bed. Jonathan swore under his breath and rubbed the back of his head. He carefully pryed Evan’s hand off of his and got up to answer the door. Jonathan pulled open the door and had to look very far up to see the man’s face. The tall man held a old black medical bag and smiled at Jonathan. 

“Hello! My names David, I take it you’re Jonathan” Jonathan nodded and shook the tall man’s hand. He stepped out of the way to let David through and pointed down the hallway “Evan’s in there” Jonathan said to David “I know, thanks for watching him” he said as he walked down the hallway and into Evan’s bedroom. 

Jonathan stood there for a second unsure of what to do now he glanced back down the hallway to where Evan was and to the door in front of him. He let out a sigh and looked down at his watch again. He was already really late and he was dreading going home if you could even call it that anymore. Jonathan stepped out of Evan’s dorm and closed the door behind him. He walked down the hallway think about his home. He thought back to all the good times he and his father had, even the good times he had with Mr. Pelter. 

He couldn’t believe the way things had turned out when he thought back to those times. How Mr. Pelter had changed from a happy, smiling, a good man, to a horrible ruthless killer and how he had dragged Jonathan down with him. Jonathan clenched his fists as he walked down the hallway and waited for the elevator to arrive. He stepped into the elevator and pressed for the first floor, rode it down in silence. 

He walked over to his bike and threw on his helmet and glanced up towards Evan’s dorm one last time before revving its engine and driving off towards his home.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Hello again! Is everyone ready for endgames which comes out in two days I know I am! Anyways I hope you enjoy the chapter and I love the comments people have been leaving, they make me smile every time I see them, so thank you! 

Evan awoke in his bed and was pleasantly surprised that every muscle on his body didn’t feel like they were on fire and that his head no longer felt like someone was beating on it like a drum. Evan sat up and stretched a bit and glanced around his room, he saw bottles of various medicines resting on his nightstand. Evan threw the sheet off of his legs and got out of bed. He grabbed a change of clothes and shuffled into the bathroom, Evan hummed to himself as he took a warm shower enjoying the fact that he could breathe through his no longer clogged nose. 

He shut off the water and wrapped his hair into a towel to dry while throwing on a red shirt and a pair of jeans. He picked up his phone and left the bathroom scrolling through all the text messages he had missed over the past few days. He continued to hum to himself as he walked towards the kitchen texting Tyler that he was all right. Evan looked up and practically dropped his phone in surprise when he saw Nogla glaring at him from the couch. “Oh hi, Nogla!” Evan said rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t know you were still here” Nogla didn’t say anything but continued to glare at him. 

“What?” Evan questioned. Nogla sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Evan, do you understand how sick you were.” Evan pulled open the fridge and grabbed a jug of milk placing it on the counter. “I wasn’t that bad,” Evan replied pouring some milk into a bowl of cereal. “It was just a cold” Nogla stood up from the couch “I nearly had to use a defibrillator on you, Evan!” Nogla shouted and Evan nearly choked on his cereal. 

“What?” Nogla pointed harshly at Evan and walked a bit closer “you stopped breathing Evan if that boy hadn’t called me when he did, God only knows what would have happened” Evan stared down at his bowl “but it was just a cold” Evan muttered. Nogla sighed and tried to calm down a bit before speaking again. “yes it seemed to have been just a cold, but even colds can kill Evan if you’re not careful” he said standing next to Evan “on top of that I believe the cold had more of an effect on you” 

“what do you mean,” Evan asked. “I don’t know yet,” Nogla said “I’ve never seen someone be so affected by a simple cold, it could possibly have been conflicting with your powers,” Nogla said letting his mind wander. Evan didn’t say anything as he placed his bowl in the sink. “Next time Evan, seek help sooner,” Nogla said sternly, Evan still didn’t say anything but instead just rubbed the back of his head. Nogla sighed at Evan’s silence and started walking off towards the bedroom “come on I need to check your wounds and change your bandages” Evan followed him and sat on the bed as Nogla looked over his wounds. Evan stared at the clock on the wall nervously tapping his foot as Nogla carefully looked over his wounds. 

“Umm not to be rude or anything Nogla, but do you think you could hurry this along, I’ve still got to get to school,” He said jamming his thumb to the clock on the wall. “Just a couple more minutes Evan, I am almost done” Nogla muttered completely focused on rewrapping Evan’s wing. “Thanks by the way,” Evan said “For saving my life again” Nogla looked up at Evan and smiled “Don’t think anything of it Evan, I know you would have done the same thing for me.” Evan smiled back and returned to staring at the clock waiting for Nogla to finish. 

Nogla dropped his black bag by the dorm's front door and turned to Evan who was standing right behind him with fresh bandages wrapped all around his body. “Okay so remember to take a tablespoon of this twice a day for about a week and preferably before you have eaten, trust me on that” Nogla said handing Evan a brown glass medicine bottle. “What is it?” Evan said curiously as he twisted the bottle in his hand. 

“It’s my own remedy should keep any lingering symptoms away till your body finished fighting off the bacteria” Evan popped off the cap and smelled it, his face instantly crunched up and he twisted the cap back on as fast as he could “good god that smell awful” Evan said trying to suppress the urge to gag. “It tastes worse,” Nogla said smiling. “anyways don’t forget to swing by the base sometime soon Evan, we have lots of work to do in trying to figure out what Mr. Pelter is planning.” Evan nodded and held the door open for Nogla 

“I’ll see if I can stop by after school” Evan said and Nogla waved goodbye and Evan shut the front door behind him. Evan ran around his apartment gathering all his books for school. He threw the last book into his bag and glanced around making sure that he had gathered everything he needed when he saw a little blue light flash from underneath the bed. Evan got down on his hands and knees and stared at the darkness under the bed looking for the source of the flashing light. 

The blue light flashed again and Evan reached under the bed and pulled out his backpack that held his suit. He unzipped it and pulled out the new earpiece the Lui had made for him. It flashed again indicating that it was on. “Oops,” Evan said holding the power button waiting for the earpiece to shut off. “forgot to shut that off, hope the battery isn’t too drained,” Evan said as he shoved it back into his backpack. Evan threw his school backpack over his shoulder he also grabbed the backpack with the super suit in it and walked out of his dorm locking the door behind him. 

He walked down towards his car and popped the trunk, he removed a false panel in the floor of the trunk and threw his suit's bag into the small compartment before sealing it again. Evan then threw his school backpack into the trunk, closed it and drove off to school. The day dragged on and Evan felt extremely overwhelmed from the amount of work that had piled up for him due to being absent, not to mention finals were coming up. 

Evan soon found himself sitting alone after school in a secluded spot in the library with piles of books stacked all around him. Evan glared at the math book in front of him trying to wrap his head around what the hell a sum of infinite geometric series was. Evan let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed the sides of his head. 

Evan caught a bit of movement in the corner of his eye and glanced to his left. He caught a glips of a bright blue hood rounding the corner behind one of the shelves. Evan’s heart instinctively began to race that blue reminded him so much of Delirious's jacket. Evan continued to stare down where he saw movement when a firm hand gripped Evan’s shoulder “Hey Evan are you…” the person was interrupted when Evan let out a startled yelp and swung a fist at the person behind him. 

The man managed to catch Evan’s fist with ease and stared at Evan in shock. “Jesus Evan why are you so jumpy,” Jonathan said still holding Evan's hand. Evan stared at Jonathan who was wearing the light blue hoody he had seen around the corner earlier. “Oh, Jonathan it’s just you, scared the shit out of me!” Jonathan gave Evan a concerned look and let go of Evan’s hand. 

“Well you look better then you did yesterday at least,” Jonathan said pulling up a chair and sitting across from Evan placing his own books on the table. Evan rubbed the back of his head, “yeah, thanks for that, I guess it was worse then I thought” Jonathan gave him a deadpan look “you think…” Evan laughed a little at that before returning to his math book. “What are you working on,” Jonathan asked looking up from his own book. 

“Math…” Evan groaned “Oh what class do you have” Jonathan asked. “Algebra 2, I have to make up a test on Monday and I am not ready for it at all. I wasn’t even given a study guide for it.” Evan said rubbing his head again in frustration. “Oh, I had that test yesterday!” Jonathan said as he started to fumble through his backpack. “Really!” Evan said “could you tell me what was on it” “Umm,” Jonathan said “I didn’t actually get to finish it” 

“it was that hard!” Evan said, “Oh I am so screwed!” “No” Jonathan clarified “It was actually pretty easy, I kinda zoned out and wasn’t paying attention to the time. Here you said that you weren’t given a study guide” Jonathan said pulling out a folder and flipping through it. He pulled out a few pieces of paper that were stapled together and handed them to Evan “You can use mine.” 

“Really thanks!” Evan said as he took the papers and started to look over them. “No problem,” Jonathan said smiling and looked back at his book. “What are you working on,” Evan asked as he tried to work out a problem. “Trying to figure out how we find the water line for our cardboard boat,” Jonathan said writing notes from the book. “We are still getting together tomorrow to work on it right” Jonathan said flipping the page. “Yep,” Evan said struggling to solve the math problem and bitting the butt of his pencil. “you need help there Evan,” Jonathan said smiling. 

Evan sighed and twisted his notebook so Jonathan could read it. “I can’t figure out what to do here,” Evan said pointing at the problem. Jonathan helped Evan work through the problem and many more before his phone started to ring. Jonathan grabbed the phone and looked at who was calling, he hesitated for a bit and let his shoulders slumped a bit before answering. Evan watched Jonathan jump from his seat a look of surprise and shock filled his face. 

“What?” Jonathan said into the phone “Is he okay” there was a small pause and Jonathan started to pack up his things. “I understand, I am on my way now,” Jonathan said and threw his backpack over his shoulder. “Is everything okay?” Evan asked and Jonathan turned to him. “Yeah everything's fine, I just need to go home now,” he said smiling. 

Evan was unconvinced but he didn’t push it, “I’ll see you tomorrow Evan,” Jonathan called out and ran out of the library. Evan watched him leave feeling a bit worried but pushed those feelings aside and returned to studying. Not a second later Evan’s own phone began to ring. 

Evan picked it up and it said that Craig was calling. “What’s up,” Evan said leaning back in his chair and listen. “Evan! There’s a shooting on Main street” he said into the phone. “What! Is anyone hurt!” Evan said sitting up. “No civilian injuries so far but the situation is quickly escalating,” Craig said “How did this start,” Evan asked as he began to pack up his things. 

“I was trying to track Mr. Pelter through the street cameras and out of nowhere a car slammed into them and they started shooting each other.” Evan stopped in his tracks just outside of the library doors “tell me why I am running out to save Mr. Pelter” he said. “It’s not him I am worried about Evan this is a busy street there are lots of civilians that could get hurt” Evan let out a frustrated sigh and resumed running towards his car. 

“Damn it what’s the fastest way to get there,” Evan said jumping into his car. “I am sending you the route now” Evan’s phone buzzed and Evan punched his car into gear driving out of the college parking lot. Evan left his car in the nearest parking garage, grabbed his backpack from the false panel and ran deep into a secluded ally. He changed into his suit, threw his backpack to the side and summoned his wings. 

“Come in Evan, come in,” Craig said speaking into the earpiece. “I read you loud and clear,” Evan said as he landed on a roof not far from the shoot out. “where is the biggest concentration of civilians” Evan said running across the roofs “In that coffee shop on the corner” Craig said “What’s the safest way to get them out” Evan said crouching down behind a steel vent and looked down at the standoff in front of him. 

A black Sedan was tipped over on its side in the middle of the road, and hiding behind it was Mr. Pelter gripping a pistol. He had a large cut running across his forehead and blood ran down his face. Next to him was his two muscular bodyguards, their clothes were a bit tattered and they had minor cuts and bruise. They also had their assault rifles drawn and were firing at a group of three just down the street. One of the men were crouched down behind a mailbox, he was thin and lanky with bright green hair combed into a sideways wave. 

Not far from him was another man who was built bulkier and was shorter. He too had oddly colored hair that was bright red and was hidden behind a parked car. Lastly, there was a man that had blond hair and a beard that could even rival Jonathan's friend's beard. He popped out from behind the concrete pillar with an Assault rifle and unleashed a storm of bullets into the car Mr. Pelter was hiding behind. “I believe the safest way would be to get them through a back vent,” Craig said “it should let out it the back ally and away from all the action” 

“Roger that,” Vanoss said and jumped down off of the roof and ran straight for the coffee shop “Jack shoot him!” The man with the red hair yelled and the lanky green hair guy popped out from his hiding place and began shooting at Vanoss. Vanoss threw himself behind a parked car as bullets ripped it to shreds. “Mini who the hell is these guys!” Vanoss shouted into his earpiece. “I’m trying to figure that out now,” Mini said and Vanoss glanced around for the safest way to get into the coffee shop. Vanoss shoved his hand into one of his belt bags and pulled out a smoke grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it gently over the car so that it landed just on the other side to give him enough cover to make it over to the coffee shop. 

Vanoss rolled out from behind the car and booked it for the shop. He threw open the shops door and a small bell rang out. “Shit…” Evan muttered and dropped to the floor covering his head with his hands. Jack shifted the barrel of the gun to where he heard the small bell ring and pulled the trigger. Bullets ripped through the glass windows of the shop and glass shards fell everywhere. Jack’s clip ran out and he dropped back behind his cover to reload. Vanoss took this opportunity to crawl behind the counter for cover. “Mini where is everyone” Vanoss whispered. 

“They in a backroom the door should be to your right,” Evan crawled over to the door and pushed open. The light from the door opening illuminated the small pitch black backroom and revealed at least 15 people crouched together. Two of the people lashed out at Vanoss thinking he was one of the attackers. They each threw a blind uncoordinated punch at Vanoss hoping to land a hit and buy everyone enough time to get away. 

Vanoss managed to grab the arm of the much taller man and threw him into the shorter one knocking them both to the ground. The others in the room tried to make a break for the door but Vanoss stood in front of the doorway and held his hands out “wait wait!” he cried “You can’t go out that way or you’ll be shot, I am here to help you” everyone froze in place and the taller man finally managed to get off of the shorter man holding his arm. 

“who the hell are you and how could we trust you” the voice to Vanoss sounded a bit familiar and he also quickly realized that no one could see anything in this room but him, Evan naturally had better night vision than most people thanks to his powers but it was nowhere near perfect. He was unable to make out details in people’s faces but he could see the general shape of each person. 

Vanoss outstretched his hand and allow a small fireball to appear in his palm lighting up the room around them. The people in the room let out an astonished gasp and backed away a bit “Holy shit!” the shorter man said who was still on the floor “You’re Vanoss!” Evan looked down at the man and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw the 3D glasses resting on the kid’s white hair. Evan wanted to blurt out Smitty's name in shock but had to bite his tongue, He glanced over to the taller man and saw Tyler glaring at him through the glow of the fire. 

Things just got even more serious for Evan his friend’s lives were now on the line, and he couldn’t find a way to get these people out safely and fast they could die. “Yes, that’s me,” Vanoss said clearing his throat and extended his free hand to help Smitty up. “and I am here to get you guys out of here” “how do you plan to do that” one of the other frightened customers said. 

“there’s a vent on the back wall of the shop, it should lead out into the back alley,” Vanoss said “but we will need to leave this room to get to it” “Leave this room are you crazy,” Tyler said glaring harder at Vanoss “we’ll get shot”. “I know that’s why I’ll go out there first and keep their aim away from this store, Okay,” Vanoss said and everyone nodded in agreement. 

“Okay then wait for five minutes after I leave to head out,” Vanoss said extinguishing the fire in his hand. He slowly pulled open the door and poked his head out. The smoke had cleared and Evan could see Mr. Pelter and his men being pressed by the 3 newcomers. The blond man pressed closer and out of nowhere Delirious popped out from a back alleyway and fired at his back. “Pewds!” Jack screamed when he saw Delirious aiming at him. 

He dove out of the way and a bullet grazed his thigh before he managed to get behind cover. The man with the red hair turned his own gun away from Mr. Pelter and started firing at Delirious. “Evan I know who these guys are,” Craig said into the earpiece. “They are apart of a large local gang and they have been in a power struggle with the mafia for a while now. The tall blond one is known as Pewdiepie and he is the leader of the gang. The red hair one is named Markipiler and the green haired one is Jacksepticeye.” 

“Thanks, Mini,” Evan said and took the opportunity that Delirious created to run out of the building pulling out his own pistol and fired it at Jack. Evan didn’t like the idea of helping Mr. Pelter, in fact, he hated it. But he couldn’t just let these people take over, and he rather deal with the devil he knows. Jack duck below his cover when Vanoss fired at him. Vanoss need to draw any fire away from the coffee shop and to do that he was going to need help. 

Evan watched Delirious shift his cover from behind the alley wall to a parked car. He made his way over to the car parked just behind the one Delirious was hidden behind. “Delirious” Vanoss called out “temporary truces?”. Delirious looked at him but the mask blocked Evan from seeing his reaction. “So you are still alive,” Delirious said reloading his clip “what are you planning here, why do you want to help me.” 

“I’m not a fan of this either Delirious but there innocent people in that shop and I need to draw their fire away from it so they can escape,” Vanoss said as he moved up next to Delirious. Delirious eyed Vanoss “What’s in it for me,” He asked. “Once we stop these guys, I’ll let you and your boss leave without any trouble.” Delirious started at Vanoss for a second trying to decide whether he should trust him or not. 

“Fine what’s your plan,” Delirious said. “Okay, I think we should go for Pewdiepie and…” “Who” Delirious interrupted “The tall blond one” Vanoss said. “anyways he’s the leader of this gang and if we could get him the others should back off” Delirious nodded his head in understanding what Vanoss was going for “Leave Pewdiepie to me, you just provide me cover” Delirious said and ran out from behind the car. 

“Delirious wait!” Vanoss called out but he was already gone. “Shit” Evan muttered to himself. Vanoss gathered a ball of fire within his hand and tossed it towards Mark setting the ground around him on fire causing him to move from his cover. He then aimed his revolver at Jack and fire a couple of rounds at him. Delirious ran straight for Pewds with his gun drawn who was hiding behind a car with his thigh still bleeding. 

He saw Delirious coming up in the reflection of the car’s side mirror. He popped up with his gun aimed at Delirious. Delirious shot at Pewds first and the bullet knocked the gun out of his hand. Delirious slid over the hood of the car and landed right in front of Pewds. Pewds took a kick at Delirious knees but he managed to move out of the way and landed a kick of his own into Pewd's face knocking him down to the ground. 

Delirious grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up to his feet. He placed his gun onto pewd's temple and held him in a chokehold. He walked out into the middle of the street with the gun still pressed against his head “Listen up! Drop your weapons or your friend here will have a nice big hole in the side of his head very soon” Vanoss got out from his cover and walked up next to Delirious with his gun still drawn. God, he hoped everyone managed to get out by now Evan thought to himself. 

“I am giving you till the count of 5. 5…4…3…2…” Delirious shouted. “Okay Okay,” Jack said coming out from his cover with his gun raised above his head “No don’t do it” Pewds choked out. “Shut it,” Delirious growled tightening his grip around his throat. “Drop the gun,” Vanoss said pointing his gun at Jack. He let his rifle fall to the floor and smiled. 

Delirious suddenly stiffened "where’s the red hair…” “Delirious get down!” Vanoss yelled when Mark popped up from behind them. Vanoss grabbed Delirious by his hoody and pull him down as Mark fired at him. Jack also went for his gun and Pewds tried to scramble away from Delirious as fast as he could. Delirious held on tightly to Pewds arm and kept him between Jack and himself. 

Jack hesitated at firing at Delirious and Vanoss in fear of hitting Pewds by mistake. Vanoss threw another ball of flames at Mark who ducked out of the way. Delirious pushed Pewds away from him and fired his gun at Jack driving him back. There was a loud screech of tires and a van barreled down the road right for Vanoss and Delirious. 

“Holy shit!” Vanoss yelled as he dove out of the way. He and Delirious split and ran to opposite sides of the streets. Vanoss dove behind a car as the van skitted to a stop and threw open the back door. Two more guys got out and started spraying bullets at Vanoss and Delirious. 

“Come on!” One of the men called out “Get in the van”. Mark made a break for the van first, followed by Jack and Pewds. “Thanks, Wade,” Mark said as he and the others got into the van and slammed the back doors closed. The van’s tires screeched as the van took off down the street as fast as it could go. 

Both Delirious and Vanoss ran out to the middle of the street and fire at the van hoping to bust a tire or something. “Damn it! Bulletproof tires” Delirious growled as they watched the van continue to drive farther down the street. 

A slow clap came from behind Vanoss and he turned around to see Mr. Pelter standing there. “I must say that was impressive, I’ve been trying to get rid of you but maybe I should have been trying to recruit you.” Vanoss glared at him “not going to happen, now get the hell out of here!” 

Mr. Pelter raised an eyebrow “you’re not going to arrest me right here and now.” Vanoss glanced at Delirious “I made a promise to let you guys go if he helped me and I am not about to break it.” Mr. Pelter frowned at Vanoss “you’re going to let such a prime opportunity escape you because you made a promise” Even Delirious seemed a little surprised that Vanoss was keeping his promise. 

“Yes, now fuck off!” Vanoss said and turned his back to them and walked towards the coffee shop. Maybe in hindsight turning his back on them wasn’t the smart idea. He heard the click of a gun and turned to see Mr. Pelter with a pistol drawn aimed right at his head ready to pull the trigger. 

Vanoss closed his eyes and braced himself to get shot. M.r Pelter pulled the trigger and the gun went off but Evan didn’t feel anything. He opened his eyes and saw Delirious holding Mr. Pelter hand away from Evan so that when he pulled the trigger the bullet went up into the air rather than into Evan’s skull. 

Mr. Pelter glared at Delirious furiously and he just brushed it off and looked over at Vanoss shrugging his shoulders “temporary truce” Vanoss smiled beneath his mask “thanks...” Mr. Pelter straightened his suit's jacket and tie and let out a frustrated grunt “We’ll be leaving now” He said and stomped off towards his bodyguards, Delirious following close behind with his hands stuffed into his hoody’s pockets. 

Vanoss turned from them and walked into the coffee shop, he saw the vent covering resting against the wall, he also looked inside of the backroom and saw no one was in there. Evan let out a sigh of relief and figure he would pop an inconspicuous text over to Tyler and Smitty later to make sure they were all right. 

Evan walked out and resummoned his wings and flew back to the alley where he had hidden his backpack. He made sure no one was around before he changed into his normal clothes and returned to his car. Evan grimaced at it when he saw a white piece of paper tucked under his window wiper. 

“Really” Evan muttered to himself as he threw his backpack back into the secret compartment. “Really,” He said a little louder as he stomped over to his windshield “A ticket! you’ve got to be kidding me!” he said as he grabbed it off of his windshield and tossed it onto the passenger seat when he got into the car. 

“Maybe Craig can get this fix for me,” He said as he drove off towards the base.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Hello again! Sorry about this taking so long but here is the next chapter. Thanks for all the comments and kudos people have been leaving it really makes my day when I see them. Anyways sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes I may have missed, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Evan was sitting in the surveillance room staring at his phone trying to think of the best way to check up on Tyler and Smitty. Nogla and Lui sat across from Evan chatting up a storm as Lui tinkered with a device in front of him. They were all waiting for Craig who was still typing away on his laptop. 

"How do you think I should word this" Evan asked. "Dude you're thinking too hard about this" Lui said "just ask how things are going" " okay..." Evan sighed and opened up his messages. He pressed Tyler's name first and typed, hey what' ca up to, and pressed send. He sent an identical message to Smitty and shut off his phone. "Was that so hard" Nogla teased. 

"Yes," Evan said "made I should send that message to other people too so it's not so suspicious" Nogla rolled his eyes at Evan and returned talking to Lui. Evan reopened the messaging app and clicked on Jonathan's name and sent the message to him as well. At least this way if they did get suspicious he could say he was bored and just looking for a conversation. Evan put his phone down and stared off at the wall thinking over today’s events. Honestly, things had gone much better then Evan thought they would have. Only one thing was bothering him, why the hell did the police never show up. In the heat of the moment the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, but it was strange for no law enforcement to show up. 

“Hey Craig,” Evan said not bothering to actually look at him, he knew he wouldn't look up from his laptop. Craig grunted in recognition letting Evan know he heard him, “don’t you think it’s weird that the police never showed up.” Craig stopped typing and looked up at Evan “No actually I don’t” He said pushing his laptop closed. “Really? Why not” Evan said giving his friend a confused look. 

“Well as far as I see it, there are two possibilities on why the police didn’t show up,” Craig said, “One the police saw an opportunity to have one of their biggest treats taken out without endangering their own, all they had to do is turn a blind eye.” “That’s a bit messed up,” Nogla said “People could have gotten hurt” Craig nodded his head in agreement “Or Mr. Pelter has some sort of influence over the police and purposely didn’t want them to show up for whatever reason.” 

Evan thought about this for a moment, “It’s probably a bit of both” he muttered. “what do you mean” Lui asked looking up from his strange device. “Well, my guess is that he does have a strong influence over the police, but I don’t see a reason for not seeking their assistance,” Evan said. “And the police saw this as a chance to get rid of his influences or something like that” Evan said shrugging. “I think you’re giving the police to much credit” Craig said shaking his head “They are a corrupt group of people” 

“You’re wrong” Evan said glaring at Craig, He thought about the officers he had worked with on the bridge and how they fought valiantly against Delirious even though they were completely outclassed. “It’s not the police that are corrupt if anything it’s the higher-ups and not the people on the ground,” Evan said. Craig let out a sigh “I guess you’re right” they sat in silents for a bit each person brewing over their own thought. Evan’s phone buzzed once on the table indicating he had a message and he picked it. 

Smitty’s name popped up on the screen followed by a bunch of text. Evan smiled and swiped his name to read the messages. Underneath Evan’s initial message was Smitty's response. “Dude, You will not believe what happened to me today!” Evan smiled at this and had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say. “What happened” Evan typed out. Not a second later Smitty responded, “I got to meet Vanoss today!” Evan could practically hear Smitty’s excitement as he read the text. “What no way!” he responded, it was much easy to act surprise through a text message than in real life. Evan even added a little shocked emoji for good measure. 

“Yes, way!” Smitty sent and another message quickly followed. “So get this” He began “Me and Tyler went to this new coffee shop that just opened up, and we were sitting inside the shop when we heard the loud screech and big crash” Smitty sent and Evan continued to smile know his friend is itching to tell him everything. “out of nowhere this car slams into another one knocking it over one to its side. This is were things started to get scary” Smitty typed and Evan frowned at the thought of his friends being put in harms way. 

“the two cars started to shoot at each other and not with pistols or anything full, on assault rifles, Everyone in the coffee shop started to freak out but luckily one of the employes pointed out a backroom we could hide in so everyone ran in there. Me and Tyler took point by the door in an attempt to stop any hostile people from entering.” Evan thought back to their brave but stupid attack in that backroom had Evan been a bad guy they all would have been dead and that pained him to think about but he continued to read Smitty’s super long text. 

“So we are standing there in pitch darkness when someone wearing a mask walks in. So both me and Tyler get a good punch in and we push the guy back until someone turned on the light and we saw that it was Vanoss and he said he was here to help” Evan felt his jaw drop and started to text Smitty back “That’s not what fucking happened” but froze before pressing send, He couldn’t say that, how the hell would he had known what had happened in that room. 

Evan clenched his teeth and deleted his original text and instead replaced it with “Wow you actually hit Vanoss!” Evan felt a little annoyed that he had to fan Smitty’s ego but what the hell else was he supposed to do, and at the end of the day, he was just glad that they were safe. “Are you two okay though?” Evan asked and Smitty responded “Oh yeah we’re both fine, maybe just a little shaken up and Tyler has a bruise on his arm from where Vanoss grabbed him, but other than that we are both perfectly fine” Smitty added a little yellow thumbs up. 

“That’s good then” Evan texted “Yep, I’ll be sure to tell you more on Monday when we see each other in class okay,” Smitty said “Okay” Evan responded smiling knowing he was in for one hell of a story on Monday when he got back to school. Evan was about to place his phone down when it buzzed in his hand again twice, he looked at the screen and saw that both Tyler and Jonathan had replied to his messages. 

Evan looked at Tyler's first and all it said was that he was fine but that he and Smitty had a story to tell him and the others later. So Evan just simply replied with okay. He then hopped over to Jonathan's text. “Nothing much but my dad is so pissed at me,” Evan raised an eyebrow at this. “Why is he so mad at you” he asked “I messed something of his up, I understand why he’s mad but still, he is hella scary when he’s angry” 

“I am so sorry for you” Evan said “Eh, don’t worry about it, he shouldn’t be home when you come over tomorrow so I’ll have a bit of a break” Jonathan said. “Are you grounded?” Evan asked “Something like that…” Jonathan replied, “Anyways I’ll see you tomorrow Evan!” 

“see you soon,” Evan said and shut off his phone. Evan looked up and saw Nogla looking at him, “What?” Evan asked looking back at Nogla. “I was think… why don’t you use your powers in combat more often” Evan stared at Nogla for a second thinking over the question “well for one they seem to be ineffective on Delirious and he’s the only one I consider a threat enough to use them on,” Evan paused for a moment “Other than that most of the time people are shooting at me from a distance and my powers are more for close combat and not for range attacks.” Nogla nodded his head “We should work on that” Nogla said “It could be helpful, but why do you think your powers don’t work on Delirious” 

"well that..." Evan’s eyes widened and he slapped his and on his forehead. “Oh! That’s why my powers never really worked on him, I am so dumb” he said out loud to himself and everyone just looked at him confused. “Umm, I may have forgotten to mention that Delirious also has powers.” 

Everyone’s jaws dropped “Since when!” Craig said shutting his laptop and looking at Evan. “How long have you know he has powers,” Nogla said crossing his arms. “since the bridge, that was the first time I saw him use them.” Evan said rubbing the back of his head. “he was able to manipulate water and I got to say it was pretty cool” Lui laughed a little at that “we should change his name to H2oDelirous” Lui joked and looked over to Craig. “So what do you got for us.” 

“Oh, yeah right… Okay so I have been trying to figure out what Mr. Pelter is trying to hide from us and I think I might have figured it out.” Craig said and he pulled up various images on the tv screen. One of them was of a warehouse that looked abandoned. The next was a picture of the same building just with a few cargo trucks driving in and out of the entrance. “It’s taken me forever to find this but I believe there is a huge shipment of weapons and drugs store here in this warehouse” 

“Why would he keep such a large shipment in one place,” Lui asked. “That’s just it,” Craig said and he pulled up news article of various warehouse building burning in the past few weeks. “I think someone has been burning down all his warehouses so he was forced to quickly hide all his supplies and now he’s trying to spread them out as fast as he can so that he doesn’t lose them if this building were to be burned as well” Craig said “the problem is moving that many supplies in a short amount of time is bound to draw some attention so he needed a distraction” 

Evan leaned back in his seat “Do you think the people responsible for burning the warehouse has something to do with that rival gang we ran into today” Evan asked and Craig shrugged “maybe I’m still looking into it I’ll let you know when I get more information.” 

“And done!” Lui exclaimed holding a small computer chip for everyone to see. “What is that,” Nogla asked “This is a tracking device, But it has a very special casing around it that makes it virtually undetectable and I would like to put it into you suit Evan” 

“Oh sure,” He said and reached under the table grabbed his backpack and tossed it to Lui who caught it with ease. Lui pulled out the suit and found an inconspicuous spot to hid the chip. “There,” he said placing the suit back into the backpack and giving it back to Evan. “Now if you ever go over a bridge again it will be much easier to find you.” 

“let’s hope that doesn’t happen again,” Nogla said standing up “Come on Evan I’ll redress your wounds for you then you could go home, I bet you’re pretty tired after today” “tell me about it,” Evan said and he followed Nogla up the stairs. Nogla didn’t take long in cleaning Evan’s wounds and most of them were already healed except the ones on his back where he got hit by a piece of shrapnel from the grenade, he leg where he got shot which didn’t hurt too badly anymore, and his wing which was still pretty messed up but he could move it again and could use it to fly, it just hurt. 

Nogla finished and waved goodbye to Evan and the next thing he knew he was back at his dorm and sound asleep on his bed. Evan woke up the next morning to the buzzing of a text message on his phone. Evan groaned and lazily reached for it on the nightstand. He turned it on to see who was bothering him and saw a text message from Jonathan. “Morning sleep head! Just reminding you about the project and here's my address, try to get here around ten okay, see you then.” Evan squinted at the time on the top of his phone and saw that it read 8:55. 

Evan let out a long exasperated sigh and crawled out of bed and into the shower. He got dressed and threw on a black t-shirt a pair of jeans and his favorite red sweater that had two white strips running through one of the sleeves. Evan sat down in his kitchen and had a quick bowl of cereal before grabbing his suit’s bag and walking down to his car. He threw it back into its compartment and closed the trunk. He then got into his car and drove over to Jonathan’s house. 

He pulled up to a large iron gate and he glanced down at his phone to make sure the address was right. Once he had made sure that this was the right address he got out of his car and stared at the tall gate. He walked up to it and tried to push it open but it didn’t budge, he even tried pulling. Evan glanced around completely confused on what to do until his eyes landed on a small silver box on the side of the gate. It had a keypad on it and a button that said push to ring. Evan went to push the button but stopped “There is no way this is Jonathan’s house” Evan muttered to himself. 

He must have sent the wrong address by mistake. Or Evan thought he sent the wrong address on purpose just so he could laugh at him later. Evan turned away from the box and pulled out his phone to call Jonathan to make sure this was his house before he made a fool of himself by ringing some stranger’s house. 

There was a pop and a crackle of static and Jonathan’s voice came out of nowhere startling Evan. “Oh come on Evan, you where so close to figuring out to open the gate” Evan could practically hear the grin on Jonathan's face and he glared at the box. “Fuck you just open the gate,” He said crossing his arms slightly embarrassed. 

“What was that... I can’t hear you, I can only see you, you’d need to press that button if you want to talk” Evan scanned the gate until he found a small camera sitting on one of the posts holding the gate up. He raised his hand and flipped off the camera and he heard Jonathan snicker through the speaker “Alright alright I’ll let you in” Jonathan said and the box went silent. There was a loud buzz from the gate and it began to roll open. Evan grumbled to himself and got back into his car and pulled it forward. 

The driveway was long and it made a small bend to the left so Evan couldn’t see the house until he rounded the corner. He could fell his jaw hit the steering wheel when he saw the size of Jonathan’s house. The massive mansion was two stories tall and had a beautiful front entrance with white stone pillars. 

Jonathan stood there still wearing his blue hoody leaning on one of the pillars grinning as Evan pulled up. He got out of the car and glared at Jonathan who just brushed it off and smiled “Took you long enough” Jonathan teased “Shut up, I thought you sent me the wrong address.” Jonathan’s smile widened “Well I didn’t! Now come on we’ve got a boat to build!” he said as he pulled open the front door and motioned for Evan to come inside. 

Evan continued to gawk at all the fancy furniture the filled the rooms and at all the art pieces the covered the walls. Jonathan watched Evan as he walked around the room, He smiled at how cute Evan was being and how easily distracted he was. One minute he would be starting at the chandelier and the next he would be staring at a suit of armor that rested in the corner of the room. Jonathan began to make his way toward the back porch where he had left the cardboard pieces for their boat and Evan followed still trying to soak in all the details. 

“I’d love to give you a tour of the place,” Jonathan said, “But we need to finish this and get you out of here before my dad gets home.” Evan gave Jonathan a confused look “what why?” he asked and Jonathan let out a sigh. “He doesn’t like it when I invite people over without his permission and I’ve pissed him off enough lately Jonathan said as he pulled open the backdoor. 

“why did you not tell him I was coming over, I don’t want to get you into trouble." Jonathan turned away from Evan clenching his fists and thought about Luke and all the trouble he had caused him by being his friend. “I don’t like him knowing how my friends are” Evan felt a little hurt by that. Was Jonathan ashamed of having him as a friend? Evan glance around his surrounding once more, Jonathan did completely outclass him he thought as he stared up at the mansion. He was just some poor kid who was living in a college dorm, and who was nearly able to pay his way through college, while Jonathan was apparently rich and could have anything he wanted. Evan suddenly realized just how out of place he felt. 

“Why don’t you just take a picture it would last longer,” Jonathan said with a sly grin on his face. Evan blushed a bit and looked away when he realized that he was staring. Jonathan laughed and pulled out large pieces of cardboard. “So are we going to do this or what,” he said smiling. Evan walked over and grabbed a piece of cardboard from him “How the hell are we going to make a boat out of this?” Evan asked and Jonathan just shrugged “Beats me, that’s what YouTube is for,” He said pulling out his phone. He searched up videos showing how to build a cardboard boat and Evan watched over his shoulders. 

Jonathan’s head snapped up from his phone and there was a loud noise from inside the house. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” He swore as he grabbed Evan by the sleeve of his sweater and practically threw him into the bushes. “Stay here and don’t move!” Jonathan said sternly and ran back over to the cardboard and pretend like he was all alone. 

Evan watched from the bushes and the back door swung open and a taller man stepped out. But Evan couldn’t see who it was because of all the leaves. “Jonathan who’s car is that in the driveway,” the stranger asked and Jonathan looked up at from the cardboard “It’s Luke’s, I borrowed it so I could get this project to school, there is no way I would be able to get it there on my bike,” Jonathan said coldly. 

Did Jonathan just think of that excuse on the spot Evan thought because it was a damn good one. Evan tried to shift a bit to get a better view but he still couldn’t see Jonathan's dad. “Are you lying to me?” Jonathan’s father said sternly “I know Luke doesn’t have a car like that” 

“He had to get a new one,” Jonathan said shrugging. There was a small pause before the sighed “What am I going to do with you, Jonathan. First, you failed to blo…” “That was your fault, not mine” Jonathan strummed quickly trying to shut down the conversation fast knowing that Evan was listening. “Then you missed the perfect opportunity to…” 

“I kept my word Dad!” Jonathan snarled “And now you’re lying to me” His dad finished walking closer to Jonathan and grabbing him by his hoody. “Who the hell is here!” he yelled and Jonathan just glared at him “I’m not telling you!” The man slammed his fists into Jonathan's stomach and he doubled over in pain “Tell me who’s here Jonathan or else” He said raising his foot ready to stomp down onto Jonathan. 

He just scowled up at him but said nothing. “Fine then, have it your way.” He said and was about to bring his foot down onto Jonathan's head when Evan ran out of the bushes “Wait!” he screamed and Jonathan looked away from his "dad" who was smirking at him “Damn it” He muttered. “I am right here,” Evan said not looking up at the man in front of him, honestly he was a bit scared to do so but when he saw Jonathan clenching his stomach in pain it filled him with rage and the confidence he needed to look up and meet the man in the eyes. 

Time seemed to freeze when Evan recognized who the man in front of him was. Mr. Pelter stared back at Evan with his pale green eyes and he wore an angry but amused look on his face. Mr. Pelter walked up to Evan till their faces were inches apart and glared. Evan was shaking in his boots, every bone in his body told him to run and his heart screamed in rage wishing to slam his fist into Mr. Pelter face. “what’s your name boy” “Evan Lee” Jonathan gave him a look but he ignored him. 

Mr. Pelter continued to glare at Evan who had gathered enough courage to glare back, Mr. Pelter cracked a small grin before turning to Jonathan. “I like this one,” He said walking back towards the house, Jonathan physically paled at these words and looked away from him. “You have an hour to finish your school project then I want you gone,” He said looking at Evan than at Jonathan. “And you,” He said and Jonathan flinched away “As punishment for lying to me, you have to clean this house from top to bottom inside and out with no breaks and I don’t care if it takes you all night.” He said slamming the back door behind him. 

They stood there in silence for about a minute “You shouldn’t have done that,” Jonathan said turning back to the cardboard. “He was about to beat the shit out of you,” Evan said. “No… He wasn’t” Jonathan said. “What do you mean no!” Evan yelled. “It was a test, Evan!” Jonathan yelled back. “If he got you to show yourself it would prove that I was lying. If you didn’t he would have said I have horrible friends since they would let me take the hit for them because they were too scared but that would have been it.” Jonathan continued to shout there was more to it than just that but he couldn’t let Evan know that his life now might be in serious danger now that Mr. Pelter had seen his face and knew he was willing to stand up to protect him. 

He had sized up Evan and he seemed to think he was useful to him in some way and Jonathan didn’t how or why and that’s was what was scaring him the most. “You expected me just to sit there while you got the crap beaten out of you” Evan growled “Yes!” Jonathan yelled. 

“that one hell of a way to think about me Jonathan I am your friend, I won’t let anything like that happen to you.” Evan glared at Jonathan but he didn’t say anything. He just turned away and grabbed one of the pieces of cardboard. 

“Come on let's finish this" Jonathan said and Evan complied They worked in silents only talking when they need the other to pass something over. An hour went by and they successfully managed to build a shabby cardboard boat that probably won't sink. 

Evan applied the last piece of tape when Mr. Pelter walked out signaling it was time to go. Jonathan stood up looked at Mr. Pelter and then back at Evan "Come on I'll walk you back to your car" Evan followed Jonathan till they reached his car. Jonathan didn't say anything and turned to leave. Evan caught him by the arm. 

"Jonathan," Evan said looking him in the eyes. The look of pure concern Evan gave him nearly made Jonathan cry. He looked the other way before tears started to form "Do you want to stay with me for a bit" Jonathan shook his head "No that's just going to make everything worse." He then put on a smile and said "I'll be fine" Evan looked unconvinced but he let go of Jonathan's arm anyway. 

"Promise me you'll text me if he tries to hurt you again" Jonathan hesitated for a bit before he nodded his head "Okay then," Evan said getting into his car. 

"see you on Monday Evan" Jonathan called out and waved to Evan as he watched him drive back home.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N Hello again! Sorry about this chapter taking so long, it was the first week back in school. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry for any errors I may have missed. Enjoy!

Evan woke up early the next day after a restless night of sleep. He still couldn’t shake the terrible feeling he got when he thought about Jonathan. Jonathan’s dad was Mr. Pelter, the man who killed his parents, the one who was in charge of the mafia as well. 

A terrible thought closed Evan's mind, was Jonathan involved with the mafia too? Evan tried to push that thought away by taking a cold shower but the thought kept rushing back to him. He got dressed and made sure to put on his favorite red sweater, before leaving the dorm. It was earlier than when he usually left to go on a walk but he needed to clear his mind and think things through. 

What was the possibility that Jonathan was an active member of the mafia? Maybe Jonathan didn’t even know who his dad was. Evan thought back to how cold Jonathan was with his dad and how he had gone through great lengths to keep him hidden when his dad did show up. It made Evan feel like Jonathan did know who his father was, and how dangerous he could be. But was he a part of it… Evan shook his head, no he thought Jonathan may know what his father is but he sure seemed to hate him, on top of that Jonathan was such a kind caring person, there was no way he could be apart of that. 

Evan continued to walk down the street brooding over these thoughts and convinced himself that Jonathan was not apart of his father's schemes but might know about them when he arrived at his destination. Evan entered a small café and stood in the relatively short line to get a nice warm coffee to help wake him up. Evan continued to wait in line for a good two minutes staring at his phone. He couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching him. 

Evan quickly glanced around the café before ordering his coffee and didn’t notice anyone standing out immediately but while he waited for the barista behind the counter to finish making his drink he had more time to look around. He looked at each table until his eyes landed on a familiar face. Evan didn’t recognize him right away because he wasn't wearing his usual blue hoody, He was instead wearing a grey zip-up jacket. Jonathan sat at one of the far tables across the café near the windows and his friend Luke sat across from him. 

They both looked at Evan and Luke said something to Jonathan that made him smack him hard in the arm. Evan smiled to himself as he was handed his coffee and began walking over to the table. Luke’s smile widened when he saw Evan walking towards them and said something else to Jonathan that made his face turn bright red. “Hello, Luke,” Evan said cheerfully “Hello Jonathan, are you okay you’re face is like a tomato,” Evan said honestly he was a bit relieved to see Jonathan here, that meant his father hadn’t killed him yesterday after he left. 

“Yes I’m fine, just burned my tongue from my drink,” Jonathan said sending a quick glaring at Luke who looked like he was going to burst into laughter any minute. “What’s so funny” Evan asked looking at Luke for an answer but Jonathan answered instead. “oh don’t mind him, he just a bit delusional this morning, maybe someone put too much sugar in his coffee” he said waving off Luke’s giggles “So what brings you here Evan” Jonathan asked, "Oh I always go here for my coffee” Evan said smiling. “Oh really” Jonathan said glaring at Luke who just smiled innocently not affected by his harsh glares. "What are you guys doing here and this early" Evan asked and Jonathan shrugged "Luke called me at like 5'oclock in the morning and told me to get my ass down here, so here I am." 

"You've been here for over an hour!" Evan said a bit dumbfounded "What have you been doing all this time." "Nothing literally nothing, Luke keeps saying he waiting for something," Jonathan said glaring even harder at Luke. “Well,” Luke said standing up suddenly “I’ve got to get going” Jonathan stared up at him in surprise “get going, what were we wai…” Jonathan paused for a second and glance at Evan who just gave him a confused look and the light bulb went on. “Luke you son of a bitch!” Jonathan said and Luke book it out of the café "You'll thank me later" he yelled back as the cafe doors closed. 

Jonathan slumped in the chair grumbling under his breath. Evan just watched the scene unfold and didn’t really know what just happened “Umm did I interrupt something” Evan asked. “no it’s just Luke being Luke!” Jonathan said in frustration but he still had a small smile plastered onto his face “You can sit down if you would like” Jonathan said and gestured towards the chair that Luke had previously occupied. 

“glad to see you’re okay” Evan said as he sat down across from him. “yeah I’m fine but cleaning the house was such a pain” Jonathan said yawning “It nearly took me all night” “Good thing we have coffee” Evan joked and Jonathan chuckled a bit. They sat there in awkward silence for a second and Evan couldn’t help and feel a bit guilty that Jonathan had to go through all that because of him, he wondered if Jonathan was mad at him. 

It was him that suggested that they work together in the first place, and it was him who said that they should work on it at Jonathan's house, they could have managed at his dorm if he moved the furniture around but he didn’t. He instead pushed the burden onto Jonathan to take care of. He should have known, Evan thought. He should have known there was a reason why in all the four years they had known each other that he hadn’t been to Jonathan's house for a reason. He had been selfish and inconsiderate and his friend had to pay for it. That is if Jonathan even still wanted him as a friend. 

“Evan…” Jonathan said taking a sip of his coffee “I know what you’re thinking about” Evan gave him a confuse innocent look “What are you talking about I’m not thinking of anything right now” Jonathan set down his cup and let out a small sigh before looking up at Evan. “Evan it’s not your fault,” Jonathan said and Evan looked away. “I’m not so sure about that…” Evan muttered into his cup as he took another sip. “Evan…” Jonathan started but he cut him off “I serious Jonathan, it was my idea that we did it at your house even though you were hesitant to do it.” 

“where else were we suppose to do it Evan” Jonathan said smirking “Your dorm should be renamed to shed that’s how small it is” “I don’t know I’ve could have worked something out” Evan said thinking “I’ve could of move the furniture around or I could.,” “Evan!” Jonathan said “dude your think too hard about this, it’s not your fault there was no way for you to have know that my dad was like that. Besides he didn’t hit me that hard, didn’t even hurt.” Jonathan said smiling, his smile dropped when he still saw the guilt still lingering in Evan’s eyes, he had a pretty good idea what was on Evan's mind "stop thinking I blame you if anything I blame my dad.” Jonathan said and he leaned in a little closer to Evan and meet his eyes “and don’t ever think I’ll stop being your friend over something stupid like this” 

A smile spread across Evan's face and his eye’s sparkled. Jonathan felt his heart leap in his chest and leaned back from Evan trying to control his emotions, but Evan's smile was damn beautiful. Jonathan felt his face starting heat up and he quickly stood up to throw his empty cup away. When he returned Evan was still smiling “thanks...” Evan said “I’m glad that we are still friends” 

”Jesus Evan I can’t believe you actually thought I would cut ties with you over something like that, now come on I’ll walk you back to your car, I've been here long enough,” Jonathan said as he headed towards the door. He was already outside when Evan caught up to him “umm actually I walked here” Evan said rubbing the back of his head and Jonathan just shrugged his shoulders “okay then I’ll just walk with you back to the dorms.” "Okay then,” Evan said smiling as they began walking down the quiet street. “when we get there,” Jonathan said, “expect your ass to be handed to you in Mario Cart.” 

Evan let out a laugh “Oh please you won’t be able to beat me!” “I did one time” Jonathan pointed out and Evan scoffed “yeah when I was practically passing out from being sick” Evan said and Jonathan glared at him “Mark my words Evan I will beat you” Evan smiled at him "if you say so" and continued to walk down the street sipping his warm coffee while Jonathan walked beside him. Evan observed the cars parked on the side of the road, and one caught his attention. 

It was a heavily armored van parked on the side of the road, he’d seen that van before but where. Evan noticed Jonathan had stopped walking and turned to see what was wrong. He was frozen in place, his eyes were wide and when they locked with Evan’s he could see the terror that filled them “Jonathan what’s wron...” Something cold and sharp pressed up against his neck and the rest of the words froze in his throat. 

Evan stiffened when he noticed that someone was standing behind him holding a knife to his neck. Oh shit, Evan thought to himself. He also realized why Jonathan had stopped. He too had someone standing behind him and they had a gun planted into his back. The man’s bright red hair gave away his identity. Mark grinned at Jonathan who couldn’t see it because he was still standing behind him. 

“You’re Mr. Pelter's boy right” Mark asked. “ I think you’ve got the wrong person,” Jonathan said. Mark’s face turned to a scowl and he shoved the gun harder into Jonathan’s spine. “don’t lie to me!” He hissed “we wouldn’t want anything to happen to your friend here now do we?” Evan felt the knife press harder into his neck and he could feel something warm start to run down his shoulder. Jonathan watched blood run down Evan’s neck and his expression grew cold. 

“What do you want,” He said and a smile returned to Mark’s face. “Get into the van and I’ll tell you,” Mark said “Oh and don’t worry your friend, he's coming with us. The knife remained on Evan’s neck as the person behind him pushed him towards the van. “Try something funny and he gets shot in the back.” The person said and it confirmed to Evan who it was. Jack shoved Evan against the side of the van grabbed his hands and held them behind his back. Evan felt something being slipped onto his wrists. 

Cuffs clicked and Evan was no longer able to move his arms. Jack grabbed him by the back of his sweater and shoved him into the van. Mark pushed Jonathan forward towards the van as well. Evan struggled with his bonds trying to slip his wrists out as they shoved Jonathan into the van with him. Mark stepped in as well still pointing the gun at them and Jack slammed the door shut locking it. There was a small pause before van started and began to move. 

The van took a sudden sharp turn throwing Evan into the side of the wall while Jonathan and Mark held onto a small handle that was mounted on the wall. Evan grumbled to himself as he tried to sit up straight, Jonathan moved to stand between Evan and Mark who still held a gun them. “What do you want,” Jonathan said crossing his arms. Mark smiled and walked a little closer to him “I’m sure you know your father is a very powerful man” Jonathan narrowed his eyes at him “so we are going to use you as bait and lure your dad into a trap.” Mark finished. “and what do you plan to do once you get him” Jonathan questioned. 

“we are going to kill him of course,” Mark said and Jonathan smirked. “as much as I wish to see him dead in a ditch somewhere, your plan won’t work.” Mark frowned at this “why do you say that” he asked. Jonathan’s smirk grew to more of a psychotic grin and he met Mark's gaze “Because you threatened my friend” Jonathan growled and lunged himself at Mark. He drew out a knife from his sleeve and slashed at him. Mark was taken aback by Jonathan's sudden attack and didn’t have enough time to raise his gun. 

Mark was barely able to move out of the way as Jonathan brought down his knife aimed at his chest. Jonathan continued his assault, slashing his blade as fast as he could to keep Mark from being able to aim. Jonathan managed slashed Mark’s hand making him drop his gun and he quickly kicked it away. Mark gripped his hand and Jonathan pointed the tip of his knife at his neck. “Hurry up and unlock the van’s door” Jonathan demanded. Mark glared at Jonathan and started to make his way towards the door when the van made another sudden sharp turn, throwing them both off their feet. 

Jonathan fell in front of Evan and he watched him get to his feet first but was still a bit dazed. He saw Mark grab his gun and aimed it at Jonathan's head. “Jonathan!” Evan screamed and kicked the back of his leg causing him to fall back down to the floor. The gun went off and the bullet went through the van’s wall instead of Jonathan’s skull. “Damn you!” Mark growled and shifted the aim of the gun toward Evan. “Oh shit!” Evan screamed and tried to dive out of the way. Jonathan rushed Mark and tackled him as hard as he could before he could pull the trigger. 

Mark managed to punch Jonathan hard in the stomach causing him to drop his knife in pain. Evan stretched his legs trying to reach for the knife as Jonathan continued to fight off Mark as best as he could in the unsteady van. Jonathan fought like a professional. His punches were hard and well placed. Evan was honestly surprised he could fight so good, He never took Jonathan to be the athletic type. 

Evan managed to pass the knife to himself by the tip of his shoes and maneuver it so that he was able to grab it with his hand that was still tied behind his back. With his other hand, Evan gripped the small chain the linked the two cuffs together and started to gather heat within that hand. The metal links started to glow orange and Evan shoved the tip of the wavy blade between the links and twisted till one of them gave way. Evan looked up and saw Jonathan land a clean hook into the side of Mark's face knocking him to the floor. “Jonathan” Evan called and tossed him the knife. He caught it with easy and instead of going after Mark like Evan thought he would He turned and ran towards the van’s doors. 

Evan followed and Jonathan shoved the knife between the two doors. He pulled down on the knife and Evan heard the deadbolt locking the door slide off. With one strong kick from Jonathan, the back door’s swung open. Evan quickly recognized that they were on the same bridge that Delirious tried to blow up a few days earlier. 

Evan turned around and saw Mark getting to his feet and braced himself for a fight. He instead felt Jonathan grab him by the back of his sweater and pulled him out of the van. Evan hit the street hard and rolled for a good few feet before his momentum finally stopped, luckily it was still early enough that there wasn’t much traffic on the road so they didn’t get run over by other cars on the road. Evan’s head spun when he stood up but the screeching of tires snapped him back to reality. 

He looked up and saw that the van had spun around and was now heading straight towards them. Jonathan limped over to Evan his right foot felt like it was on fire every time he tried to step on it, He must have landed on it wrong when they jumped out. Crap Evan thought to himself when he saw Jonathan limping. There was no way they could outrun the van now. Evan looked over to the side of the bridge. Well, he’d survived it before he thought. 

“Come on!” Evan yelled as he gripped Jonathan's hand and pulled him towards the edge of the bridge. “Are you insane!” Jonathan said, as they got closer to the side of the bridge. “It’s either this or we end up smashed on the street.” Evan said as he slipped his legs over the bridge's railing. Jonathan did the same and tightened his grip around Evan’s hand out of fear. “I swear to god Evan if I die here I’m haunting your ass!” Jonathan said as he stared down at the water far below him. Evan let out a small laugh and before jumping pulling Jonathan with him. They screamed all the way down never letting go of each other's hands. 

They plunged into the river, and at first, all Jonathan could feel was the shock of the impact and the coldness of the water. He felt himself being pulled up towards the surface and when he and Evan finally made it to the surface they took a big gasp for air. Jonathan looked up at the bride that towered above him. “Holy shit…” Jonathan muttered. He thought of how Vanoss somehow managing to survive being practically blown from the sky and falling from an even higher hight into the same river he was in now. “how the hell had he managed to survive that...” Jonathan said to himself. 

“did you say something” Evan asked as he swam closer to Jonathan. He shook his head “no” “come on then, we have a long swim back to the shore.” Evan said and Jonathan nodded and they began making their way towards the shore. It took them half an hour to finally reach the shore. Both Evan and Jonathan had to practically crawl onto the shore and once they reached dry land they collapsed in the sand and laid there for a bit staring up at the sky. 

Evan sniffed “I swear if I get sick again I am going to be pissed,” Evan said and Jonathan chuckled a bit. Jonathan let out a groan and sat up. All of his muscles screamed out in pain. He stared out at the river and then glanced down at Evan who had his eyes closed still trying to catch his breath. He had cuts and scratches all over himself and he couldn’t help but feel guilty for every single one of them. 

Jonathan rose to his feet and stretched his acing muscles a bit while Evan just watched. “Well that was fun,” Evan said sitting up himself. Jonathan frowned at him, “Evan this isn’t something to joke about you nearly got yourself killed.” “They tried to kill you too Jonathan, who knows what they would have done to get you into the van if I wasn’t there” Evan replied. “So!” Jonathan snapped, “who the hell cares if I get hurt, God damn!” Jonathan swore and kicked at the sand with his bad foot. Pain shot through his body and he fell down gripping his foot” 

“Jonathan! Don’t do that,” Evan said moving to his side. Jonathan held his head in his hands and pulled at his hair “this is the second time you’ve been put in danger because of me.” He said slightly muffled by his arms. “Hey look at me,” Evan said as he took Jonathan's hand and held it in his own. He still refused to look Evan in the eyes instead he opted to stare at the ground. Evan slipped his hand under Jonathan's chin and gently pushed it so that he was looking at him and held it there. Jonathan had tears swelling in his eyes and looking at Evan's scratched face only made it worse. 

“I care if you get hurt Jonathan” Evan said gently. “You are one of the few people I truly open up to and you are all ways there for me. You're kind, funny and I know you care out your friends very much.” Evan said pausing to let it sink in. “I nearly got you killed Evan,” Jonathan said. Evan didn’t truly know who he was, he didn’t know all the horrible things he had done, all the people he killed. If he did he wouldn't be looking at him the way he was now with compassion and care, instead he would be looking at him like the monster he truly was. 

“But you didn’t,” Evan said, “You fought like hell to save me and you nearly got shot for it.” “I may not know everything about you Jonathan but I know you’re a good person that has a lot of crappy things happen to, and I know at the end of the day you will make the right decision, and that’s what I like about you,” Evan said smiling. 

He stood up and reached his hand down towards Jonathan “you fight ferociously for your friends Jonathan and I know you will all ways be there for me, so let me there for you too.” Jonathan sniffed and looked up at Evan with a small smile “that was some speech” Evan shrugged his shoulder and laughed a bit “what can I say, I tried to be inspiring, but I meant every word” Jonathan’s smile grew a little bit brighter and he reached up and took Evan’s hand. Evan hauled him to his feet and they began walking back towards the road to see if they could flag a cab or something. 

“Thanks, Evan” Jonathan muttered slightly blushing “I needed that."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N Hello! I finished another chapter for you and for some reason this chapter was super hard to write. I don’t know why and I hope its quality didn’t suffer from it. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and don’t for get to leave a comment I love reading them! Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes I may have missed.

Evan and Jonathan both sat on the curb waiting for someone to drive by. “do you really think someone is going to give a ride to people like us” Jonathan said “we look like we just murdered someone” Evan looked over at him, he had cuts and scratches every were, his knuckles had bits of dried blood and his grey jacket had a few spatters as well. On top of all that they where soaked, and the sand from the shore clung to their clothes. 

“hmmm, maybe,” Evan said thinking, “I think I am just going to call a friend,” Evan said reaching into his pocket. “you had your phone on you this entire time, we’ve been sitting here for about an hour!” Jonathan said as Evan fished out his phone. Literally, his phone was sitting in a pool of water at the bottom of his pocket and water dripped out from its case when he pulled it out causing Evan to cringe “That is if it even still works." 

Evan had a pretty good feeling that it did because Lui had made it for him, and he always thought 10 steps ahead when it came to his gadgets. There was a good chance that he had made it waterproof, hopefully. Evan pressed down on the home button but nothing happened. He then held down on the power button for a good minute and just when Evan was about to give up the screen lit up indicating it worked but was rebooting. “Thank god” Jonathan said as they wait for the phone to reboot. “who are you going to call” Jonathan asked “David you’ve met him before, I’ll ask him to take a look at your foot too” Evan said as he dialed David's number and put the phone to his ear. “good” Jonathan said “my foot is killing me” 

“hello,” Nogla said sleepily he sounded like he had just woken up. “hey David could you come down here and pick me up and bring your medical kit." “what? what happened” Nogla said as he got out of bed. “some jerks tried to kidnap Jonathan and they used me to do it, now he’s got a hurt foot.” Jonathan glared at Evan “damn it Evan” he muttered “okay I’m on my way now,” Nogla said grabbing his bag and heading for his car. “I’m sending you our location,” Evan said “okay see you in a bit,” Nogla answered and he hung up. 

Evan shoved his phone back into his pocket an looked over at Jonathan who was glaring at him. “what?” he asked “and they used me to do it” Jonathan said “you’re blaming your self again aren’t you” Evan rubbed the back of his head in shame “well if I hadn’t gone to that café so early we wouldn’t have left when we did and,” Jonathan began to laugh cutting Evan off “Evan that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard” “nothing would have changed if you didn’t go the café except that I would have had a bullet in my head. You saved my life by being there so it was a good thing that you came when you did” Jonathan said smiling and Evan blushed a bit “Okay fine so it wasn’t my fault, it still was scary to see Mark pointing a gun at you and not being able to do much about it.” 

"Tell me about I didn’t even notice him pick up the gun again.” They both sat there replaying the situation in their heads. “hey” Jonathan said glancing over to Evan “how did you know that guys name was Mark” Evan felt his heart jump to his throat. “Ummm…” Evan said trying to think of a good enough excuse while Jonathan waited for an answer. “Smitty told me” Evan finally said. “Smitty told you...” Jonathan said in disbelieve “yeah did you hear about that shooting that happened at main street” Jonathan nodded his head “yeah I remember that” 

“well Smitty and Tyler were there and they practically saw the whole thing, they even got to meet Vanoss when he helped the escape.” “how did they know their names,” Jonathan asked. What’s with him Evan thought why is he asking so many questions. “Vanoss told them what was going on, while they were escaping, basically it was a shoot out between a rival gang and the mafia,” Evan said. “And the two that tried to kidnap us right now where one of the shooters, Mark, Jack and someone else but I can’t remember his name.” Jonathan’s glare relaxed seeming to except that answer “sound like Smitty and Tyler had one hell of an adventure” he said and Evan laughed “yep and it’s one I’ll never hear the end of because of Smitty, he is a huge geek when it comes to Vanoss and Delirious, so being able to meet Vanoss meant the world to him.” 

Jonathan smiled he hadn’t met Smitty very many times but he sounded like fun and he was happy that Evan had a good set of friends. Evan stood up and Jonathan noticed a car driving down the road towards them and eyed it warily. It pulled up in front of them and the driver got out leaving the car running. Jonathan saw Evan smile slightly when he saw the driver and it put his nerves at ease. 

Jonathan recognized David as he walked over to them carrying the same medical bag as before. “Evan are you guys okay,” He asked when he saw how scratched up his face was. “Yeah I’m fine,” Evan said smiling at his friend’s concern “It’s Jonathan I’m worried about” Nogla looked over to Jonathan who was still sitting on the curb and gave a small smile. Jonathan smiled back when Nogla walked over and crouched down in front of him. “Hello, again Jonathan,” Nogla said, “Which foot is it,” He asked and Jonathan shifted his right foot “This one" he muttered. 

Nogla pushed up Jonathan's pant leg so that he could get a good look at his ankle. Jonathan’s ankle had a purplish hue to it and was severely swollen. Nogla continued to examine it asking Jonathan if it hurt when he pressed down on certain spots of his ankle. “Well it’s bad but it’s not broken,” Nogla said. “Should we take him to the hospital?” Evan asked and Nogla shook his head. “There’s nothing a hospital could do for him that I can’t,” Nogla said standing back up. 

“Come on help me get him into the car.” Nogla said to Evan. But Jonathan brushed him off “I can make it to the car my self” he grumble and stood up. With one step he was back on the ground and Nogla laughed and helped him back up. “you’re just as stubborn as Evan” He said as Evan ran over to help. Together they managed to get Jonathan in the back seat only hitting his head once on the car door. 

Nogla got into the back with Jonathan to start working on his foot, while Evan got into the driver seat. He looked back at them to make sure they were situated, Jonathan was sitting sideways across the seats with his back resting against the door and his foot laid across Nogla’s lap who was wrapping bandages tightly around it. “So where to,” Evan asked. The question was more directed at Nogla but Jonathan answered. “Just take me home not much you could do for a sprained ankle but let it heal.” Evan glance over to Nogla to see if he approved. 

Nogla nodded and Evan turned back around and began driving away towards Jonathan's house. “Okay, I’m putting a brace on your foot to help take some of the pressure off when you walk,” Nogla said as he took of Jonathan's sock and shoe. He slipped a stiffer sock that hugged Jonathan's foot and more importantly his ankle tightly. “It’s not the best brace in the world but it’s low profile. No one would be able to tell you’re wearing one, unlike that big bulky boot you normally see” Nogla said putting the bandages back into his back. 

“thanks” Jonathan said taking his foot of Nogla’s lap. He slipped his shoe back on and stuffed his sock into one of his pockets while Nogla continued to shuffle around in his bag until he pulled out a small orange bottle. He popped the lid off and poured a few pills into his hand and handed them over to Jonathan. 

“Here these should help with the swelling and pain” Jonathan took the pills, thanked Nogla and went to put them into his mouth. “Not now! Nogla said and Jonathan gave him a confused look still holding the pills. “you need to take pills with water or you’ll blow out your kidneys” Jonathan still looked confused “but I all ways take pills without water” Jonathan said “Well stop, you might be fine with your typical over the counter drugs but that’s the strong stuff, you need to dilute them a bit before they go into your system.” Nogla said. 

“Okay…” Jonathan muttered wishing he could take the pain medicine now so that it kicked in sooner. He stuffed the pills into his other pocket and Nogla threw the bottle back into his bag. Sighing over Jonathan's ignorance, he pulled out an ice pack and handed it to Jonathan. “Make sure you ice it at least twice a day for about 20 mins, and I would take those pills before you go to bed, they will make you very drowsy,” He said as Jonathan took the ice pack from him. 

“How did you even do this to your ankle anyways,” Nogla asked. “we jumped out of a moving vehicle,” Evan said smiling, “Then off a fucking bridge” Jonathan added. Nogla looked at Evan in surprise “You fell off that bridge again!” Nogla said in surprise but he quickly shut his mouth when he realized what he just said. Evan felt his heart jump and he shot a harsh glare at Nogla through the rearview mirror. 

"What!” Jonathan said "You've fallen off that bridge before" Evan felt himself panicking "Well it was an accident" "how the hell do you just fall off a bridge accidentally" Jonathan said Evan wanted to straggle Nogla "well...umm" Evan began "Let's just say I can be a bit reckless at times and it is now why I have David on speed dial." Evan said biting his lip. Well, it was partly true the whole reason he fell off the bridge in the first place was because he was being reckless and had no way to get into contact with his friends to figure out how to defuse the bomb. 

Jonathan narrowed his eyes at him and Evan could tell he wasn't fully buying it. Nogla pulled out his phone and handed it to Jonathan. He had a large grin on his face and Evan now feared what was on the phone more than Jonathan figuring out he was Vanoss. "Here's an example of him being stupid" Nogla said trying to hold in a laugh. Jonathan felt a smile cross his face as he hit play. "Wait! what are you showing him" Evan asked panic filling his voice. "Just the video with you and Craig on those hoverboards," Nogla said. "Oh no..." Evan groaned and Jonathan smiled even more at Evan's embarrassment. 

The video continued playing and soon Jonathan couldn't stop himself from laughing. Evan cringed when he thought of the video. It was when both he and Craig got hoverboards for Christmas and they were trying to learn how to use them. He was actually pretty good at it, on the other hand, was horrible and he acquired Evan's help to stay on the board. In hindsight learning how to using them near a set of stairs wasn’t the safest idea, but hey that’s what Nogla is for. Craig ended up falling off of his board and into Evan, pushing both of them back and over the edge of the top stair, and gravity did the rest of the work. They ended up in a tangled mess at the bottom while Nogla just watched them from the top. 

The video ended and Nogla took his phone back. As embarrassing it was to have Jonathan watch him being an idiot at least he was laughing and smiling again and that was all even needed. Jonathan was still slightly laughing “God I don’t even want to know what you were doing to end up falling off the bridge.” 

“yeah that wasn’t fun,” Evan said as he thought back to the bridge. “Oh we’re here,” Evan said as he pulled off to the side to let Jonathan out. Jonathan open the car door and got Evan unrolled the window so that they could talk. “you sure you’re going to be alright” Evan asked “Yeah I’ll be fine, I’ll see you tomorrow at school” Jonathan said and he turned to the silver keypad and punched in a code to open the gate. The gates buzzed and rolled open. 

Evan watched Jonathan slightly limp passed it, he turned and waved one more time before heading up the rest of the drive disappearing around the bend. Evan rolled up his window and let out a long sigh. Nogla crawled his way into the front passenger seat next to Evan and put on his seat belt. Evan began to drive away slowly “That was it,” he said softly, Nogla gave him a confused look “that was what?” 

“Mr. Pelter's house, Jonathan is his son.” Nogla eyes widened and he looked back at the house “No fucken way!” he said “does that have something to do with what happened today” Nogla asked and Evan nodded “it was those guys from earlier the ones that shot up main street, I think their plan was to use Jonathan to get to Mr. Pelter ” 

“how do you know Mr. Pelter lives there,” Nogla asked. “Jonathan invited me over to work on a project yesterday, and well let's just say his dad wasn’t too happy about him inviting over one of his school friends without his permission.” Evan said as he focused on the road “did he recognize you” Nogla asked concern filled his voice. Evan shook his head “No I don’t think he did but still…” Evan's thoughts drifted off and they both just sat there in silence, each one of them deep in their own thoughts. 

“so what are you going to do now.” Nogla finally asked. “Nothing changes,” Evan said gripping the steering wheel harder. “But he’s his dad Evan,” Nogla said a bit shocked by Evan’s response. Evan’s knuckles grew white and he could feel a deep seeded rage seeping into his thoughts “All the more reason to finish him off." Evan said each word was filled with venom and Evan practically spit them out, surprising himself and Nogla. 

Evan took a deep breath and pushed those feeling deep down trying to clear his mind. “he hurts him Nogla, I’ve seen him hit Jonathan” Evan said softly and Nogla seemed to understand why Evan was so upset. “Besides,” Evan said coldly, “Jonathan himself said he wouldn’t mind seeing him dead in some ditch, so I don’t we’ll have a problem." Nogla didn’t say anything and they drove the rest of the way in silence. 

They pulled into the driveway and Evan finally loosened his grip of the steering wheel. Evan stared at the steering wheel while Nogla just frowned at him. Parts of the plastic had melted away leaving imprints of his hands where he had gripped the wheel. Evan stared at it in shock, he didn’t even realize he was gathering power into his hands. “Umm, sorry about that.” Evan said his voice was ridden with guilt and he refused to look Nogla in the face. 

Nogla let out a sigh “It’s fine, come on let's get inside” he said getting out of the car. Evan remained in the car for another minute just staring at the steering wheel before finally getting out himself. He joined Nogla inside and he was instantly greeted with warm licks and cheerful barks from Joe and Tony. 

Evan smiled and they made their way to the back yard with a tennis ball in hand. Joe and Tony frantically wagged their tail when they saw the ball. Evan tossed it and watch the two dogs chase after it in pure glee, and for a short while, Evan forgot about everything and was smiling and laughing with Nogla as they played together with Joe and Tony in the back yard. 

Hours went by and the sun was starting to set. Joe and Tony made their way back inside and collapsed into their doggy beds in Nogla’s room tuckered out from all the running around outside. Evan and Nogla also went back inside wanting to avoid being eaten by the mosquitoes that come out when the sun sets. Evan went downstairs and sat down at the bar. Nogla followed Evan down and stood next to him. “shouldn’t we go tell Craig that we know where Mr. Pelter lives” Nogla said. Evan felt his rage spark again and he let out a deep sigh “I suppose so” Evan said getting up and headed deeper underground. 

Evan pulled open the door to the surveillance room, the room was pitch black except for the light coming from Craig's laptop at the far end of the room. “Jesus Craig put some lights on,” Nogla said flipping the lights on. Craig spun quickly in his chair to face them. “Oh good! Evan, you’re here, I was just about to call you.” Craig said running over to him. “Why? what’s wrong” Evan asked tilting his head. “It’s Delirious! He was sighted downtown and I believe he has a new target.” Craig said and he turned towards one of the tv screens on the wall and he pulled up a picture of a man Evan had never seen before. 

“This is Turner Wright and he’s a politician currently running for the position of mayor.” Craig said “I’ve been tracking Delirious since he was spotted and I noticed he was following Mr. Wright” Craig said “Problem is that I don’t know why he’s going after Mr. Wright. I looked into his history and from what I can tell he works for Mr. Pelter.” He pulled up another image on to the screen of a building that looked like a shabby apartment. “this is where he lives. And I think the best way to enter the apartment unnoticed would to take the fire escape here” Craig said pointing at the man’s room. “Evan nodded and turned to leave but he quickly realized he didn’t have his suit. It was still at home underneath his bed. 

“Oh crap,” he muttered “what?” Craig asked “I don’t have my suit with me,” Evan said “what! but you never go anywhere without it” Craig said in surprise.” “yeah well this morning was little more hectic than usual,” Evan said yawning, he was exhausted but he needed to put a stop to Delirious's plans. “come on then we don’t have much time,” Nogla said running up the stairs. 

Evan followed him all the way back to his car and they drove as fast as they could all the way back to Evan's dorm. Evan booked it back to his room and grabbed his backpack. He got back into the car and Nogla began driving to the location that Craig had sent him earlier. Evan somehow managed to change into his suit while in the car, and Nogla pulled into an alley not too far from Mr. Wright apartment. 

“are you sure you can do this Evan,” Nogla asked. “I’ll be fine,” Evan said as he pulled down his mask and got out of the car. Evan gave a quick wave before running down the ally towards Mr. Wright’s apartment. He silently climbed up the metal stairs till he reached a small balcony that led into Mr. Wright room. The sliding glass door were left open and the curtains on the sides of the door gently swayed in the wind. Evan looked inside and saw Delirious standing over Mr. Wright who had bruise along his face from where Delirious had hit him. 

“Wait! Wait!” Mr. Wright yelled trying to back away from Delirious. “Please don’t kill me” He pleaded. Delirious slammed his fist into Mr. Wright’s face “Shut up” He growled. “You brought this upon you’re self” He hissed pulling out his pistol and aiming it at his head. “Wait! Please, I have a family! They need me!” He screamed. Delirious narrowed his eye and pulled back the hammer on the gun “Sorry but I’ve got friends I need to protect” He said. 

“You actually have friends,” A voice said from behind him. Delirious stiffened and mentally cursed himself for letting his emotions get the better of him and not paying attention to his surrounding. “Drop the gun,” Vanoss said pointing his own gun at his back. “Leave Vanoss this is none any of your business” Delirious growled. “last I checked it is my business,” Vanoss said stepping closer “why do you want to kill him, doesn’t he work for you.” Delirious clenched the gun harder “He’s a coward and rat!” 

“No, I’m not they made me tell them! They threatened my family I had no choice” the man sobbed. “Bull Shit!" Delirious yelled "They promised you a top spot once they took out Mr. Pelter. You put kids in danger for your political game. On top of that, the kids were my boss’s son and his friend! They almost died today because of you!” Evan’s eye’s widened and he let his gun lower a little in surprise and looked at the man cowering against the wall. “What do you mean,” Vanoss asked. 

“He somehow knew where he was this morning and told those three men from earlier, and they tried kidnapping him and his friend,” Delirious said. Evan didn’t know what to do and for just a second he felt okay with leaving the corrupt man in front of him to his fate. He glanced over to the table and he felt a wave of guilt for even daring to think that. 

Resting on the table was a picture frame and show Mr. Wright and what Evan could only assume was his wife hugging a small boy. Evan couldn’t help but picture his own parents hugging him and how he felt when he lost them. He didn’t want that kid to go through the same thing he did. “So I’m going to say this again” Delirious growled now completely face Vanoss “Leave!” 

Evan took a deep breath and turned from Delirious and began walking away. Evan felt his rage began to boil and he gathered fire around his fist. He spun on his heels and rushed Delirious. Delirious tried to take a step back to dodge Evan’s attack but almost collapsed to the ground when he stepped on his right foot. Evan took this opportunity and slammed his fist hard into Delirious's face, who didn’t have enough time to recover knocking him away from Mr. Wright. 

“Go!” Vanoss yelled to Mr. Wright who immediately ran out of the room “Thank you!” He screamed as he ran down the hallway. Blood ran down from behind Delirious's mask and Evan noticed a huge crack had formed, stretching from his left eye to the bottom right corner. “Damn you!” Delirious growled and charged Evan with his knife. 

Evan was able to doge him with easy and elbowed him in the ribs. He realized how sluggish and stiff Delirious was moving. It wasn’t his usual fast and precise attacks, they were uncoordinated and slow. Evan moved out of the way as Delirious lunged at him again, he managed to grab him by his arm and threw him down to the ground. Delirious hit the ground hard knocking the wind out of him. He let out a groan and Evan looked down at him. 

“What’s wrong with you” Evan questioned, “Are you drunk or something.” Delirious slowly got back to his feet and had to lean on the table for support. “No I’m not drunk, I’m just tired it’s been a really long day.” Evan crossed his arms and stared at Delirious. He didn’t feel like fighting anymore, all of the rage he had felt disappeared when he saw the sad sorry state Delirious was in and it didn’t look like Delirious wanted to fight either. 

“I can’t believe you let him get away, he tried to hurt innocent people,” Delirious said still leaning on the table. Evan glanced over to the photo that was still resting on the table. “He had a family” he answered, “So! Everyone has a family.” Delirious said also looking over at the photo. “Not everyone...” Evan muttered and turned to leave. “Where the hell, are you going!” Delirious called out. 

“Home,” Vanoss said as he jumped down the fire escape he came in through leaving Delirious alone in a trashed apartment.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Hello again! I’ve finished another chapter and I was thinking about the ending of this story. I already have the main idea about how I wanted this story to end of course with a happy ending but then I thought what if I didn’t what if I make the ending super sad. I don’t know if I should do a good ending or bad ending, I might just flip a coin. What would you prefer to see? Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and don’t forget to leave a comment I absolutely love reading them and I get all happy when I see an email notification saying someone left a comment. Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes I may have missed. Enjoy!

Evan woke up the sounds of his alarm going off on his phone. He groaned and tried to bury himself deeper into his covers hoping to block out the annoying sound of a blaring buzzard. His efforts were unsuccessful and he was forced out of his bed to shut off the alarm. He drug himself into the bathroom so that he could take a shower and get ready for school. Evan got dressed and made his way down to his car with his school bag and suit in hand. He tossed them into his trunk and drove off towards school. Evan let out a yawn as he walked into the history classroom and moved towards his desk. 

Much to his surprise, his friends were already there. Evan glanced over to the clock on the wall. Was he that late he thought, he wasn’t, the class didn’t start till another 10 minutes. Smitty turned to Evan with a bright smile while his other friends gave him a pleading look. Evan raised an eyebrow at them as Smitty ran over. “Evan, you’re late!” Smitty said pulling him by the arm to the rest of the group. “Late? Class doesn’t start for another 10 minutes.” Evan said when he reached the group. “didn’t you get my text” Smitty questioned, “I wanted everyone to be here early so I could tell them what happened on Saturday.” 

“Oh, that” Evan responded, “But you told me what happened already.” Smitty smiled “Yeah but it’s better in person.” Evan let out a small sigh and sat down in his seat. “Okay so here’s what happened” Smitty started “Hey where’s Tyler?” Evan interrupted. “I don’t know he must not have gotten my text, Anyways so, me and…” Smitty said and again Evan interrupted. 

“But shouldn’t we wait for Tyler so that he could confirm that this actually happened” Evan could fell a smile tug at his lips when he saw his friend’s frustration and he had a pretty good idea why Tyler wasn’t here right now. “No! We shouldn’t wait. Now,” Smitty started “I don’t know Smitty” Marcel intervened, “I think Evan’s right.” 

“Right about what?” Tyler asked as he walked into the classroom. Smitty practically jumped out of his skin when Tyler walked in. “Why are you all here so early?” Tyler questioned as he set his bag down and sat next to Evan. “Smitty told us to come here early so that he could tell us about the adventure the two of you had on Saturday.” Marcel said. “Oh really,” Tyler said crossing his arms “is there any reason why you didn’t invite me to this story time,” Tyler said. “I did invite you! You just must have not gotten my text like Evan” Smitty said. Tyler narrowed his eyes at Smitty and Evan turned to Tyler with a mischievous grin on his face. 

“Is it true that you guys actually fought Vanoss?” Evan said while keeping an eye on Smitty’s reaction. Smitty’s expression grew into a panic and Tyler just smirked at him. “I wouldn’t say we fought him, more like got our assess handed to us.” “Really?” Marcel said, “Smitty made it seem like you guys won the fight.” Tyler laughed “Oh please Smitty couldn’t even beat Evan here.” “Hey what’s that suppose to mean,” Both Smitty and Evan said at the same time. “I could take him” Smitty added glaring at Tyler. 

Tyler addressed Evan first "Evan you wouldn’t and couldn't hurt a fly and as for you,” Tyler said glaring back at Smitty “You’re weaker than a fly” “I am not!” Smitty protested. “Prove it then,” Tyler said getting up from his seat. He grabbed Evan and pulled him from his chair, “hey! what are you doing?” Evan said as Tyler pushed him in front of Smitty. 

“The first one to knock the other to ground wins,” Tyler said. “Phff! this should be easy” Smitty said. “hey! wait a minute I didn’t agree to this!” Evan said looking at Tyler who just waved him off “You’ll be fine” 

“It’s not me I’m worried about…” Evan muttered and looked over at Smitty who was facing him ready to go. “Let’s go, Evan!” Marcel cheered. “Kick his ass, Smitty!” A voice screamed from the hallway as someone passed by. “Thank you, John!” Smitty screamed back, He had a large cocky grin plastered on his face and Evan couldn’t help from having one of his own. 

Smitty charged at Evan and he couldn’t stop his smirk from growing. Smitty’s form was sloppy and thoughtless, it was nothing compared to Delirious's fighting style. All Evan had to do was step to the side and Smitty's strike went right past him. Tyler and Marcel both laughed when he missed Evan and nearly tripped over himself. 

Smitty came at him again and this time Evan grabbed his arm and much like what he did when they attack him in the backroom, shifted his footing and threw Smitty into Tyler. Both Smitty and Tyler clashed and fell to the floor in a heap. They continued to lay there while Marcel stood in awe “Holy shit! Evan, You can actually fight!” Tyler managed to push off of him and sat up “talk about Déjà vu” Tyler muttered rubbing his head. Evan walked over to Smitty and extended his hand to help him up. "We good?" Evan asked. 

Smitty smiled and took Evan's hand "yeah we're good, man I totally thought I had that…" Tyler smirked at Smitty "told you you'd get your ass kicked" Smitty laughed at him "like you wouldn't!" Tyler looked up and Evan and thought about it for a second "no I think I could take him" "oh yeah" Smitty said "prove it" 

"nope..." Evan stated and went back to his seat. Evan felt a bit relieved as he watched his friends argue he was a bit worried that he had thrown Smitty to hard but he seemed to be fine. He smiled as his friends continued to bicker and by now more students had started to enter the classroom and filled the hallways. 

Evan starred out the classroom door and watched students pass by trying to get to their classes. Evan felt his heart beat just a little faster when he saw a familiar blue hoody walk to one of the lockers in the hallway just outside the door. Jonathan had his back to Evan as he grabbed something from his locker and shoved it into his backpack. He was talking to someone Evan couldn't quite see but he looked sad. Evan watched as Luke gave him a small hug apparently try to comfort Jonathan. Jonathan smiled a bit and they continued to chat. 

Evan felt something strange in the pit of his stomach when he watched Luke hug Jonathan. Was he jealous Evan though, no Jonathan was just his friend why would he be jealous of someone hugging him? Evan felt an arm wrap around his shoulder and Marcel leaned down. "What'ca looking at?" Marcel said looking out the classroom door. His eyes landed on Jonathan who was still talking to Luke and Evan watched a sly smile form on his face. 

"Ohhh! you like him don't you Evan." Evan felt his face heat "what no!” Evan said frantically “he’s just a friend.” “So you do like him!" marcel exclaimed. “Guys Evan had a crush!” Marcel said running over to Tyler and Smitty who were still arguing in the back of the class. “Marcel!” Evan screamed. He turned away from the door to chase after Marcel and he didn’t notice Jonathan’s smile brighten a little bit more when he glanced over and saw Evan running after his friend. 

Evan blushed like a mad man for the rest of the class as his friends teased him for his crush even though he repeatedly told them that he and Jonathan were just friends. The bell rang and Evan got up to leave “Oh no you don’t.” Tyler said pushing him back down into his chair “Like we buy that your just friends” Marcel said, “So when are you going to ask him out.” 

“Ask him out?” Evan said. “yeah you know, romantic walk on the beach or you could see a movie together.” Marcel said and Evan continued to blush. “I told you it’s not like that” Evan felt like he was being interrogated for a crime, all they where missing was a dark room and single blinding light shining in his eyes. “sure it isn’t,” Marcel said sarcastically. “So what do you like about him, is it his eyes he does have pretty blue eyes.” Marcel teased. “No!” Evan said. 

“No their not beautiful, wow, Evan that’s a bit insulting, don’t let him hear that” Tyler added, “No they are beautiful but…” Evan said “So you do find him attractive” Marcel pushed. “Well yes… I mean no!” Evan said quickly while his friends just smiled at him. “Hey,” Tyler said his smile dropping and he looked around the room. 

“Where’d Smitty go?” All of them looked around the room for the white hair boy but he wasn’t to be found. Marcel just shrugged “He’ll show up eventually, Now what are we going to do with…” Marcel said turning back to where Evan was seated but he wasn't there. He quickly spun to face the door and saw Evan attempting to sneak out while they were preoccupied “Hey! don’t let him get away!” Marcel screamed and Tyler managed to grab Evan by the back of his sweater just before he made it out the door. “Let me go, I have classes to get to!” Evan yelled as Tyler dragged him back over to the chair for more torturous teasing. 

Meanwhile, Smitty skipped happily down the hallway, his mischievous mind had hatched a brilliant plan to get back at Evan. He rubbed at his sore wrist from where Evan had grabbed him. He hadn’t expected Evan to be so good let alone to throw him into Tyler. Someone wave to Smitty from across the hall catching his attention “John!” Smitty said running up to the man. He was about average height maybe just slightly taller than Smitty himself and he had long curly blond hair. He smiled as Smitty came over. 

“So did you win.” He asked. “No I had my ass handed to me,” Smitty said slightly embarrassed. John laughed “yeah I knew that was going to happen” Smitty punched him lightly in the arm “I could still take you on,” John just smiled at him “Sure you can, now what are you up to?” Smitty gave him an innocent smile “I don’t know what you mean” He said. “Oh please I can tell when you have something sinister being planed up here,” John said knocking on Smitty’s head. 

“What is it and how can I help.” John said with a mischievous smile of his own. Smitty whispered something into his ear and John nodded. “Ohhh I like it,” John said. “So can you help me out,” Smitty said. Jonh stood there thinking for a second and Smitty swore he saw a light bulb go off in his friend’s head. “I got it!” John said, “We share history, together and we had a big report due yesterday.” Smitty nodded along with John as he laid out the perfect plan. 

“Thanks, John,” Smitty said and continued to skip down the hallway till he round a corner and his eyes fell on the man he was looking for. His smile grew as he approached the stranger's back and tapped on his shoulder. 

Jonathan felt someone tapping his shoulder and turned around to face a strange kid that had a bright smile, pure white hair and had a pair of 3D glasses resting on top. “Umm hi,” Jonathan said trying to give his best polite smile. Smitty looked up at Jonathan and his face change to a look of concern “Whoa! you okay.” “Yeah I’m fine,” Jonathan said quickly “So do you need something.” He asked the kid. Smitty’s smile grew a little more mischievous. 

“Ms. Miller wanted to see you.” Smitty said trying to look as innocent as possible. “Ms. Miller the history teacher? But why?” Jonathan asked. “I don’t know something about you messing up the formatting of your history report and she’s giving you till the end of break to fix it before she starts taking off points” Jonathan’s eyes widened and he checked his phone for the time “Oh hell! that only leaves me with five minutes” Jonathan swore and he took off towards the history class leaving Smitty behind. 

Smitty smirked and started running back toward the classroom as well so that he didn’t miss the show. He’d have to thank John later for telling him that they had a report due yesterday and that Jonathan was in his class. Evan continued to be bombarded by questions from both Marcel and Tyler. And Evan could feel his frustration growing "for the last time it's not like that!" Evan said standing up to leave. 

"It's not like what?" someone said standing behind them. Tyler and Marcel turned around and saw Jonathan standing there with his arms crossed. Evan felt his face flush when he noticed Jonathan there and dread what his friends were going to do and say next. But when he looked up at his face he felt his heartbreak. His bottom lip was swollen and split and his left eye was blue and purple and he is eyebrow had a small scabbed up cut stretching across it. "Are you okay?" Tyler asked when he looked at Jonathan's beaten face. "Yeah I'm fine," Jonathan said, "have any of you seen Ms. Miller" "No she's not here," Marcel said. Tyler glanced back at Evan who was still staring at Jonathan with a blank expression. Tyler grabbed Marcel by the arm "Well look at the time, we've got to get to class isn't that right Marcel" Tyler said pulling him out of the room. "Uh right?" Marcel said as he was being dragged. 

Smitty stood in the doorway poking his head in and Tyler grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled away from the door as he walked by "Hey Wait! Smitty shouted as he was dragged down the hallway. Jonathan watched Tyler pull the white hair boy away from the door with a confused expression. 

"What was that all about," Jonathan said turning back to Evan. Evan just stared at him "Uhh earth to Evan" Jonathan said waving his hand in front of his face. Evan blink and his expression harden. He looked up at Jonathan with a murderous look and it scared him. It reminded him too much of himself. "Did your dad do that to you?" Evan mutter. 

Jonathan covered his eye with his hand so that Evan would stop staring at it. "No... he didn't" Jonathan said. "Then how you get it," Evan said coldly. "At work," Jonathan said. "It was my fault though," he said and Evan gave him a look of doubt. "No seriously," Jonathan said smiling trying to lighten the mood. 

"I had work to do so I took those pills that David gave me as soon as I got home." Jonathan explained. "Man when he said those pills make you dozy he wasn't kidding, I was so sluggish last night I might as well have been drunk and well that got me into some trouble and I got hurt on the job because I wasn't paying attention." Evan still looked at him like he knew he was lying, and to be fair he was, but he couldn't tell Evan the real truth maybe it was just better to let him continue believing that it was Mr. Pelter who had given him these injuries and not him fighting Vanoss half asleep. 

"Jonathan..." Evan said softly the murderous look in his eyes slowly fading "I'm your friend, you can tell me about these things if you want but I won't push you" Jonathan actually felt like crying, he wanted to run into Evan's arms and tell him everything, he wanted to tell him about being Delirious, he wanted to tell him how hurt he was when he Dad left him and never came back, how shattered his world was when he found out Mr. Pelter someone who he had adored as a child was really just a murdering bastard. He wished Evan would hold him as he cried and be there to help pick up the broken pieces when he was done, but he didn't. 

Instead, he pushed those feelings and desires deep within himself and locked them away. He looked away from Evan and lied to him, "No really I'm fine” Jonathan said he had a sad smile on his lips. Evan closed his eyes and nodded he felt a little hurt that Jonathan didn't trust him enough to tell him what was wrong, but he knew Jonathan just need space and time. 

"But," Jonathan declared, "I want to clear up a misconception," Jonathan said and Evan gave him a confused look. "I don't want you to continue to think I'm actually related to him. He's not my biological dad, I'm adopted," Jonathan said. "Really," Evan said a bit shocked that Mr. Pelter would adopt someone "yep, my mom died during childbirth so it was just me and my actual dad for a while" Jonathan said reminiscing "I don't know what my dad did for a living but he was good friends with Mr. Pelter, and one day my dad left for a business trip and never came back. So Mr. Pelter took me in” Jonathan said with a sad smile when he thought of his dad. 

"If you want me, to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Pelter had something to do with my dad's disappearance but I don't really have any proof of that" Jonathan said turning towards the door ready to leave. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him and Evan pulled him in for a tight hug. 

Jonathan stood there a bit shock while Evan pressed up against his back. “I’m sorry” Evan whispered. He felt his face heat up and he turned around to look up at Evan smiling. “There’s nothing you should be sorry for.” Jonathan said. They continued to stand there staring into each other's eyes. Jonathan never noticed how pretty and intricate Evan’s eyes where. 

On the surface, they looked like ordinary brown eyes, but the longer you stared at them you’d start to notice the golden hue and the little particles that seem to dance like fire. Jonathan also began to notice they were getting closer. Evan was slowly leaning down and the tips of their noses were now practically touching. Jonathan’s heart raced and he continued to be mesmerized by Evan’s eyes. 

The bell rang startling the two and they jumped away from each other the moment they realized what they were doing. Both of their faces were a bright red and they stood there utterly embarrassed as other kids started to enter the classroom. Jonathan quickly cleared his throat “Shall we get going, we have physics next” 

“yep!” Evan said quickly and both he and Jonathan left the classroom. Evan mentally cured himself for actually attempting to kiss him, while Jonathan thought about what would have happened if the bell had rung a minute later. They both arrive at the physics room a flustered mess, and their minds raced over all the possibility that could have happened as they took their seats. Evan started to dread the rest of the class and the thought of having to be next to Jonathan. He was scared of how awkward things were going to be and how Jonathan was going to take the fact that he tried to kiss him. 

“soo umm” Jonathan said “that happened” Evan finished. Jonathan smiled a bit when he thought about Evan hugging him. The warmth he felt, it gave him a new sense of purpose, a drive to keep on fighting. He wished he could feel it again he wanted Evan to hug him and never let go. But he knew that could never happen, he didn’t deserve to have Evan look at him the way he did full of love and compassion, he was lower than dirt. A rat of the underground that should never experience the warmth of the sun. 

Jonathan took a deep breath and tried to gather his thoughts. “Evan” Jonathan spoke softly, he saw flashes of fear in Evan’s eyes and it made the next few words much harder to say. ”I like you, Evan, I really do, but,” Jonathan said. He didn’t want to say the next few words, he wanted nothing more for than to be with Evan but images of Luke having a gun pointed at the back of his head flashed across his mind. 

He didn’t want Evan to be in that same boat, it was bad enough that Mr. Pelter knew what he looked like but if he ever found out that Jonathan liked him, god only knows what would happen, and Jonathan couldn’t do that to him. “but I’m not ready to be in a relationship” He said and he could see the hurt and sadness filling Evan’s eyes but he smiled anyway. “So you do like me.” Evan said his smile growing a little bit brighter. Jonathan felt his heart races and his cheeks blush from embarrassment. “well yeah… I mean no, yes...” Jonathan said and let his head fall to the table “it’s too complicated” Jonathan mumbled and Evan just laugh at Jonathan being flustered. 

Jonathan smiled a bit and was glad Evan was taking it the right way, but he still wished he didn’t have to push Evan away. Evan smiled at him and Jonathan could still see the hurt and pain in his eyes but he also saw something else, hope, desire, and dedication. “When every your ready Jonathan I’ll be here waiting” Evan whispered so quietly that Jonathan almost missed it. Jonathan smiled to himself 

“Thanks…” he whispered back just as the teacher walked in and class began.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N Hello again! Sorry about this chapter taking so long to come out and that it's a bit shorter than the others, it was super hard to write for some reason and I really hope it's quality wasn't affected because of that. Plus finals are about to start and I need to study. I hope to get out at least one more chapter before the first final, but we'll see what happens. Anyways I am so glad that people are actually enjoying my story and can't wait to write the next few chapters. Don't forget to leave a review and I know I've said this before but they really do make my day 10x better. So I hope you enjoy and sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes I may have missed.

Class dragged on for Evan and he stared mindlessly at the board. He already understood everything the teacher was explaining. So he started to drift off and was practically asleep when his phone went off. Evan jumped in his seat and he scrambled to shut his phone off while the teacher just gave Evan an annoyed look. Jonathan snickered a bit and Evan finally managed to shut off the ringer. He glanced at the caller ID and saw Craig's name pop up on the screen. "Oh shit…" Evan muttered to himself earning a glance from Jonathan. Evan canceled the call and instead opened his messages and clicked on Craig's name. "Sorry I can't talk right now I'm in class."

Evan went to put his phone away but his phone vibrated again. He looked down and saw that Craig sent another message. "I know but I need you to get down here now!" Craig sent. Evan stared at the message and felt his heart sink, something must be wrong, Evan thought as he started to pack up his backpack, "I'm on my way" Evan sent and he stood up to leave. Jonathan grabbed him by the arm, "hey where are you going? is everything okay?" Evan smiled at him "Yeah, everything's fine, I think…" Jonathan gave him a concerned look but let go of his arm and Evan ran out of the classroom.

Evan made it to his car and drove as fast as he could to the base. He knocked on the door and waited to be let in. Nogla opened the door and gave Evan a confused look. "Evan what are you doing here shouldn't you be at school," He asked. "I was," Evan said stepping inside "But Craig called and said it was urgent" Evan gave Joe and Tony a quick scratch as he passed by and headed deeper into the base. Nogla followed him and they both went down into the surveillance room. When they got there Craig was pacing back and forth around the room.

"Craig what's wrong," Evan said as they walked in. Craig looked up at Evan with a worried expression. "we might have a problem." Craig said grabbing his laptop and placed it onto the table for everyone to see. It was at this point Evan realized that Lui was also in the room. Lui looked frustrated and annoyed, constantly glaring at Craig. "What happened?" Evan asked. He had expected Craig to answer but Lui did instead. "Craig here! very well might have given the enemy the perfect and only way to track us down!" Lui said.

"Wait, what!" both Evan and Nogla said looking at Craig. "It's not my fault!" Craig said looking at Lui. "Why would you make it so fragile and hard to control." "I told you it wasn't done!" Lui said, "This was supposed to just be a test run not an actual mission!" Craig and Lui continued to shift the blame on each other, while Evan and Nogla just exchanged glances.

"Alright!" Evan yelled, "Everyone just calm down!" Lui and Craig both let out a frustrated huff and sat down at the table, while Nogla and Evan did the same. "Okay, so what actually happened?" Nogla asked and they both opened their mouths to speak but Evan stopped them. "One at a time please, Lui you go first." Lui took a deep breath and started to explain what happened "Okay, so I just finished building a prototype for a far range spy drone" Lui said. "With it we would have been able to spy on places without actually putting ourselves in danger, on top of that you would be able to control it from any laptop" Lui said slightly gloating. "so I gave it to Craig to test it out, and he had the brilliant idea to send it right to the heart of the Mafia."

"I didn't know it was just a prototype!" Craig said. "I told you!" Lui yelled. "Did not!" "yes I did, I said be careful with it it's not finished yet, don't do anything stupid!" "Okay okay!" Evan said, "So where is the drone now?"

"Well…" Craig started "Do you remember that one warehouse I told you about, you know that big one" "Yes," Evan answered "Yeah…it's in there," Craig said. "You're not serious," Evan said pinching the bridge of his nose. "Lui how can they track us, using the drone." Evan asked. "one of the features was to be able to navigate its way home so it has the coordinates of the base programmed into its memory." Lui said. "Oh boy…" Evan muttered.

"here's the good thing," Craig said, "I created part of the programming and I made sure that the memory bank of the drone is protected by a firewall and heavy encryptions, but with enough work, I'm sure someone could hack through it." Craig said. "Well, what are the odds that they think the drone is ours and not just some kid's" Nogla asked. Craig shot a harsh glare at Lui. "I had said we should make it more like a normal drone, but Lui thought it would be nice to paint it black and yellow and put a Vanoss logo on it. "Hey to be fair, it looked really cool," Lui said. "So where exactly did you lose contact with the drone," Evan asked. "we lost it trying to navigate it through the vents," Craig said. "Did you lose the signal or something?" Evan asked.

"Sort of," Lui said, "There was a fan that we had to go through and Craig didn't time it right. So it got hit by one of the fan blades." Lui said "It must have cracked one of the propellers because it stopped flying and fell straight down… then we lost contact with it." "So it's stuck bellow some fan in some random vent." Evan said. "Yep!" Lui said. "And from what I'm understanding you want me to go get it." Evan stated. "Yep!" Lui repeated. Evan let out a frustrated sigh. "How the hell am I supposed to find it in there!"

"Oh don't worry about that," Craig said typing on his laptop. "I have the route we took before we lost contact with it, so I'll be able to guide you to it" Evan started at the map on Craig's laptop. "Fine, I'm going to go get changed," Evan said leaving the room and walking further down the stairs. Evan muttered to himself all the way down the stairs, he reached the bottom and changed into his suit. He placed his earpiece in his ear and powered it on. "Testing Craig, can you hear me?" Evan said. "Yeah I read you," Craig said. Evan pulled down his mask and stared down the tunnel. "You ready?" Craig asked.

"I guess so…" Evan muttered slightly annoyed that he was being forced to clean up Craig's and Lui's screw up. Evan focused his will and summoned his wings. Evan pushed off the ground and flapped his wings. They thrust him down the tunnel and he flew out over a small lake. Evan flew close to the surface and let his hand drag in the cold water. Evan's grumpy mood vanished felt excitement pumping through his veins and the cool wind on his face.

He smiled as he flew up higher and passed the clouds. He always loved flying it always made him feel like there was nothing in the world that could hold him down. Evan looked up at the blue sky and couldn't help himself from thinking about Jonathan. He thought about how he had hugged him and almost kissed him. Evan blushed beneath the mask when he thought about Jonathan saying he liked him but just wasn't ready for a relationship. Evan understood why Jonathan was trying to protect him, he was trying to keep him as far away from Mr. Pelter as possible because he knew what he was capable of. If only Jonathan knew how involved Evan was, maybe then they could... Evan's thoughts drifted.

What would happen if he told Jonathan he was Vanoss. Would Jonathan just except it? Would he tell his "Dad" that he was Vanoss or would Jonathan just think he was being used? These thoughts continued to plague Evan's mind. What if he didn't know Jonathan as well as he thought, what if he really was deep down just like Mr. Pelter? Evan toyed with these feelings some more until he saw the warehouse come into view. Evan landed in an alley a few feet away from the warehouse. "Mini this place is crawling with mafia members!" Evan said into his earpiece as he looked over to the warehouse. There were armed guards everywhere and a bunch of workers moving crates in an out of the building. Evan watched muscular looking men with assault rifles strapped to their back pace around the perimeter, keeping their eyes on the workers and any other passerby. Evan grimaced to himself, there sure was a lot of them.

"Hang on, I'm trying to figure out the best way in." Craig said. Evan continued to wait and he watched the workers move create after create into large trucks disguised as moving trucks. He also kept a keen eye on the mercenaries, a car drove by and to Evan's surprise, it pulled up to the back of the warehouse and stopped. One of the mercenaries said something into his radio and walked over to the car and pulled open the car door.

Mr. Pelter stepped out followed by his two usual bodyguards. He nodded to the mercenary and proceeded into the building. Evan started to feel a bit of dread build up in his stomach. "Oh Fuck" Evan whispered. "What?" Craig asked, "Mr. Pelter just showed up." Evan mumbled, "Is this really worth it." Evan asked. "this is very important Evan if they get their hands on that drone we are screwed," Craig said. "Fine have you figured out the best way in yet," Evan asked. "Yes," Craig said "You're currently by the south entrance, the vent we entered is located on the north wall. I think it would be best if you stick to the alleys and make you're way around."

"Got it," Evan said. He turned and ran down the ally in the opposite direction of the warehouse. He followed the directions Craig told him and eventually, he found himself on the north side of the building. Evan waited for the perfect moment before running over to the wall. "Mini where's the vent!" Evan said. "Up and to your left." Craig said. Up in the top corner was a small steel tunnel that led deeper into the building.

Evan jumped and used his wings to give him a small boost to reach the edge of the vent. Evan pulled himself into the vent and he was forced to make his wings disappear so that he could fit in the small space. Evan started to crawl through the vents, the metal floor thumped beneath him as Craig continued to give him directions. Evan turned left as Craig directed and hit a metal wall. "Craig this is a dead end!" Evan whispered into his earpiece.

"Sorry sorry… I meant my left so you're right." Evan grumbled to himself as he was forced to crawl backward till he was able to go the other way. Evan finally reached a larger opening that had a big metal fan on the floor. Evan looked down at the fan "So it's somewhere down there" Evan asked. "Yeah," Craig said. "How the hell am I going to get past that!" Evan said staring down at the fan. "You're going to have to jam it with something," Craig said. "I don't have anything to… Wait" Evan stopped.

Just below him were metal bars welded into the vent walls leading down past the fan forming a ladder. Evan reached down and gripped the top bar, he gathered heat into his hand and held his hand there until that part of the bar began to glow. Evan pulled up and down on the bar until the half finally snapped away from the wall. He proceeded to repeat this to the other side of the bar until he was able to pull the bar completely off the wall. Evan held the bar in his hand and shoved it into the gear of the fan.

The fan made a horrible screech as the gears grinded against the bar and the blades slowly came to a stop. Evan used the rest of the ladder to climb down past the fan. He reached the bottom and started looking around for the drone. "Where is it Mini?" Evan asked as he looked around the empty duct. "It should be there!" Craig responded. "It's not here!" Evan said stepping off the ladder "That's impossible" Craig. "it's not here Mini, check your map again, maybe we took a wrong turn some where" Evan said. "but you made it to the fan, that has to be it" Craig said looking over the map. "there could be more than one fan" Evan responded. "no I gave you the right directions it has to be there keep looking" Craig said. "Mini, I can practically reach both walls if I stretch my arms out, I've looked everywhere." Evan said frustrated.

He took one step forward to stand in the center of the room and the floor beneath him gave way. "Oh, Shit!" Evan yelled and he fell down and out of the vent. He managed to grab onto one of the long black wires holding the lights into the ceiling stopping his fall. Evan let out a sigh of relief "That was a close one" He muttered to himself and he started to pull himself up when the wire holding the light into the ceiling snapped and he plummeted at least 50 feet to the hard concrete floor below.

Evan's head spun and stars filled his vision. He groaned as pushed himself up so that he was sitting upright, his ribs flared in pain when he did. God, he probably broke something again. He looked up and saw the barrel of a gun aimed right at his head "Crap..." He whispered "Vanoss what's wrong! What happen!" Craig said into his earpiece. Evan's vision blurred in and out and he soon realized that the man standing in front of him wasn't the only one pointing his gun at him.

Evan was completely surrounded by armed mercenaries. He didn't know what to do his brain was still too stunned from falling so high. How did that even happen the ducts should have been able to hold his weight. The guard in front of him said something into his radio but Evan couldn't make it out through all the ringing in his ear and Craig's pleads for him to respond. Evan's vision went black for a second and when he could see again he saw Mr. Pelter standing in front of him with a big smile on his face.

"Hello Vanoss," Mr. Pelter said leaning down "Looking for this". He held out the drone and let it fall to the floor right in front of Evan. "I knew you'd come looking for this eventually" Mr. Pelter said. "so I had a false floor installed hoping you'd fall to your death." Mr. Pelter looked over at the broken light in dismay, "but I guess you're not that lucky." Mr. Pelter looked back at Vanoss and leaned in a little closer.

Craig continued to scream into Evan's ear through the earpiece and Evan's brain scrambled to get his thoughts back in order. "After I'm through with you, you're going to wish that fall killed you," He said smirking. He stood up straight and turned away from Vanoss before looked up at the guarded next to him, "You know what to do" He said and started to walk away. Evan watched the guard take a step forward flip his gun around and slammed the butt of the gun into the side of his head.

Evan fell back to the cold concrete floor and his vision swirled some more before slowly faded away.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N Hello again… Sorry about this chapter being so short (And for taking so long), but with finals and all I haven’t gotten much time to write. I have to get the story finished soon because I absolutely screwed up my math final and my grade for that class dropped like crazy, it went to a D+, so once my dad sees that it’s bye, bye electronics for forever! (I am so screwed!!) Which makes it hard to post a story. Good news is that we are almost done, we’re more than halfway through and hopefully, I can finish it by next week, but we’ll see. Anyways thanks for all the comments they mean a lot especially right now because I’m terrified of what’s going to happen I've never gotten a grade that bad before. Anyways Hope you enjoy!

Evan’s head spun and he slowly pulled his eyes open. He was sitting on a chair in a dingy room, his hands were tied behind his back and to the chair, as well as his feet. Evan could feel something warm running down the side of his face beneath his mask. Evan pulled at the ropes but they wouldn’t budge. Evan’s head snapped up when he heard voices just outside the door. He watched the doorknob twist and someone pushed the door open. The person who entered flipping on the lights and Evan had to shut his eyes because it was so bright. 

“Good you’re awake,” Mr. Pelter said with a large grin on his face as he stepped into the room. Delirious followed close behind and closed the door. He looked a bit shocked to see him sitting there tied to the chair. “You weren’t kidding,” Delirious said as he walked closer. “How the hell did you manage to catch him.” Mr. Pelter held out the drone in his hand, “Caught him trying to get this back” He said handing the drone over to Delirious. Delirious looked over the black and yellow drone slightly amused. “so you got caught trying to retrieve a toy, that’s kind of pathetic” Delirious said smirking between his mask. 

“this coming from the person that was drunk on the job.” Vanoss said. “I told you I wasn’t drunk” Delirious growled at him. “Sure you weren't,” Vanoss said sarcastically before he was kicked in the ribs and knocked to the ground with the chair. Evan groaned as he hit the cold floor and cough out bits of blood into his mask. “you’re in no position to be sarcastic with us” Mr. Pelter said standing over Vanoss. Delirious walked over and set Vanoss upright again. “Shall you damask him or shall I?” Delirious requested looking over at Mr. Pelter. 

“I’ll do it,” He said as he gripped the rubber owl mask and yanked it off pulling some of Evan’s hair in the process. Jonathan felt the world slow down as he watched Mr. Pelter pulled off the owl mask and saw Evan glaring back at them. He couldn’t believe his eyes, Why? Why was Evan sitting in front of them tied to the chair? This must be a cruel joke. Mr. Pelter began to laugh when he saw Evan and Jonathan looked over to him hoping for him to say April fools even though it was nowhere near April. Mr. Pelter continued to laugh and Evan gritted his teeth in anger. 

“I knew it!” He said. “I knew from the moment I saw you with Jonathan that there was something special about you. Especially after you gave me a fake name.” He said still smiling. “Though I’m still not quite sure why you did that?” Mr. Pelter said leaning closer to Evan “Why did you give me a fake name, Evan Fong?” 

“You killed my parents!” Evan growled out, “You killed them right in front of me!” Mr. Pelter’s smile faltered for a bit as if he was trying to remember something. His smile slowly returned “That’s right.” He said as if suddenly remembering. “Mr. Fong wouldn't take my bribe to stay out of my way, so I had him killed,” He said reminiscing. Evan stared at him in horror. how could he be so nonchalant about killing someone? Evan’s horror quickly morphed in anger “You bastard! How could you hurt innocent people like that!” Evan yelled and yanked at the ropes restraining him but they still wouldn’t budge. 

“don’t even bother using your flames to melt those ropes,” Mr. Pelter said ignoring Evan’s question. “ I had those custom made from heat resistant fibers. It would take you hours to generate enough heat to break through it.” He said coldly. He quickly glanced over at Delirious who was just standing there staring at Evan. Mr. Pelter felt a sly smile spread across his face. “Tell me Evan, were you friends with my son just so you can get closer to me.” Jonathan stiffed when he heard the question, he hadn’t thought of that. He was too in shock to think much of anything. Had Evan been using him, as everything just a lie. 

“Jonathan’s my friend you scoundrel! and you hurt him, so don’t you dare call him your son.” Evan said firmly. Mr. Pelter laughed and punched Evan in the gut. Evan let out a nasty cough from the unexpected punch and Mr. Pelter landed one more in the side of Evan’s face. Jonathan felt an enormous wave of guilt when Evan called him his friend. How could he be his friend when he was just standing there watching Evan get beat. Jonathan reached up and brushed his mask with his fingers. 

He wanted to rip it off and throw himself into Evan and take the blows for him but he was too scared. Jonathan could see the hatred in Evan’s eyes every time he looked at him while he was wearing the mask, and he was scared Evan would continue to look at him this way even if he took the mask off. Mr. Pelter paused for a moment and wiped some blood off his knuckles “If only you knew how he really got those injuries” He said smiling and he pulled his fist back to pound Evan again. 

Evan closed his eyes and gritted his teeth bracing to get hit again. Jonathan took a deep breath and steeled himself before taking a step forward, He couldn't allow his emotions to get the best of him, for both his and Evan’s sake. “That’s enough!” Delirious stepping between Mr. Pelter and Evan. “We still need info and we can’t get that if you beat him to a bloody pulp,” he said sternly. Mr. Pelter smirked at Delirious but didn’t hit Evan again. He took a step back and collected himself returning the usual cold demeanor while straightening his suit and tie. Evan’s hateful glare shifted to Delirious when he stepped in front of him with the drone. 

“Tell me how to by-pass the firewall,” Delirious asked, he tried to sound demanding but his voice failed him and it came out much weaker almost sounding like a plead. A look of surprise flashed across Evan’s face before quickly returning to a pissed off look. “I don’t know how I’m not the one who made it,” Evan said through his teeth. “Then tell us who did,” Mr. Pelter said shoving Delirious to the side. “Go fuck your self” Evan spat. 

Mr. Pelter smirked again and turned away from Evan and started walking towards the door they had come from. “Fine if you won't tell me who made it I’ll find one of you’re friends that will,” He said “Come along Delirious,” He said as he pulled the door open. “Wait, What!” Evan said panicking and he pulled at the ropes again “Leave my friends out of this they know nothing!” He screamed as Mr. Pelter stepped out of the door. 

Delirious reached the door paused for a moment before glancing back at Evan one last time before shutting it behind him. Delirious briskly walked down a small cement hallway to catch up with Mr. Pelter who was standing by an Elevator waiting for the doors to open up. By the time he got there the doors were already opened and Mr. Pelter had stepped in. Delirious followed and watched the elevator doors close. The elevator slow started to raise and Delirious could feel his guilt growing and growing, He just couldn’t take it anymore. 

Jonathan tore off his mask and slammed it into the Elevator wall. He let to a frustrated yell as the mask fell to the floor, the crack running along the left eye growing slightly larger. Jonathan glared harshly at Mr. Pelter who was just watching him with his usual blank expression arms crossed. “You killed his parents!” Jonathan screamed, it took every fiber of his being to not lash out at Mr. Pelter and try to strangle him. 

Mr. Pelter practically rolled his eyes at Jonathan's outburst push Jonathan one step closer to snapping. “You’re letting your emotions get in the way, can’t you see he was just using you to get closer to me.” Jonathan clenched his fists tightly and they began to shake. “He did not use me! He never asked to come here once!” Jonathan screamed “He had no clue you lived here! He’s my friend!” Mr. Pelter stared coldly into Jonathan's eyes sending chills down his spines “There’s no such thing as friends in this world” He said. 

“What about you and dad weren’t you friends” Jonathan mumbled under his breath but Mr. Pelter heard him. Something flashed across Mr. Pelter's face and Jonathan could have sore he saw a pained look before it was clouded by anger. Mr. Pelter shoved Jonathan hard against the elevator wall causing the cart to shake back and forth a bit. He pined his arm underneath Jonathan’s neck and pushed down just enough to partly cut off Jonathan's airway to create the feeling of being chocked. “And where did that get me!” He snarled and Jonathan stared at him in surprise while desperately clawing at his arm trying to push off it off his throat. 

“I want you to listen very closely to me because if you screw it up in any way you’re friend Luke will meet his untimely demise in some ditch!” He growled and pushed slightly harder into Jonathan's neck. He gave Jonathan his instruction as he kept him pinned against the wall. Jonathan felt his head start to spin and his vision became filled with black spots before Mr. Pelter finally let go of him when the elevator doors opened. Mr. Pelter stormed out of the elevator leaving Jonathan alone. Jonathan let out a series of horrible coughs as he slid to the floor of the elevator trying to catch his breath. He lungs and throat burned and his vision was still a bit blurry. All he could think about was the instruction Mr. Pelter gave him and it made him sick to his stomach. 

Jonathan panted and his eyes glanced down to the floor next to him where his mask was. It was dirty and faded. The crack had grown much longer and there was now a chip in the top right. Jonathan picked it up and held it out in front of himself he wanted to shatter it but he couldn’t, not yet he need to make sure Luke was safe before he did anything drastic, so, for now, he will continue to play Mr. Pelter’s game no matter how much he hated it. 

Jonathan pushed himself off the floor and stepped out of the elevator and he was now standing inside the living room of his own house. Jonathan turned and watched the elevator door’s close and be replaced with an ordinary looking wall covered in a variety of classic looking books. Jonathan stared at the book that hid a button that could open the wall again and call the elevator. He was tempted to push it again, He wanted to run back to where Evan was and cut him free, they would run out of here together grab Luke and move to Cuba or something. But Jonathan knew they never be able to outrun Mr. Pelter, not for long at least. If you’ve pissed him off he wouldn’t stop coming for you until he knows you’re dead. 

Jonathan turned away from the shelves and started walking towards his room still clutching his mask. He felt tears drip down his face as he thought of what he had to do. He slammed the door to his room shut and locked it. 

He threw himself onto his bed and buried his face into his blue sheets before crying himself to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N Hello again and finally! I finish this chapter! This is definitely a long one and I am soo sorry this took so long to get out. How long as it been a little over a week I think. Oh gosh I’m sorry! But with that said I am glad people are enjoying this story and I know I’ve said this before but the comments you leave really mean a lot to me. But enough of that it’s summer vacation meaning I will hopefully have a lot more time on my hands to write this story, problem is we are almost done with this story! So I was thinking about writing another one when this one is done. I’m still not quite sure what I want to do yet. It’ll definitely be about Jonathan and Evan but I’m not sure what it would be about yet. I’m currently thinking about a pirate story because I’ve recently watched Pirates of the Caribbean again and I think that could be potentially a cool story, but what do you think. Is there any story in particular you want to see let me know I’m totally open to any cool ideas. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter again sorry it took so long and for any grammar or spelling errors I might have missed I kind of rushed the editing for this chapter so I hope it’s quality doesn’t suffer.

“Wait! What!” Evan said as he pulled at the ropes again “Leave my friends out of this they know nothing!” He screamed as he watched both Mr. Pelter and Delirious walk out of the room and shut the door. “God Damn it” Evan swore and pulled harder at the ropes. He continued to struggle for over an hour and the ropes dug deep into his wrist rubbing them raw. Evan eventually stopped struggling realizing he couldn’t escape, how the hell did he let this happen, how could he screw up so badly that He now has put his friends in danger. He let his head hang and he stared at his lap in dismay. 

Thoughts started to creep through his mind and all Evan could envision was his friends’ corpses lying in front of him. Evan closed his eyes trying to shut out those thoughts but he kept seeing them over and over. He needed to get out of here but he couldn’t think of anything. His brains felt like scrambled eggs and his vision was still filled with spots. “Come on…” He mumbled and yanked at the ropes one more time but they still didn’t move. Evan could feel the panic growing more and more in his chest and he had to hold back a sob that wanted to escape his throat. 

He felt so useless every second he wasted was another second his friends were in danger. Evan felt a tear run down his cheek, his wrists burned from being rubbed raw and his vision occasionally faded in and out. Evan gritted his teeth when his vision faded again. He must have hit his head harder then he thought, it still felt like someone had just finished spinning him really fast. He stomach was queasy and its contents were begging to be released. Evan fought down the urge to puke and began to looking around the extremely dark room for something he could use. There was a dim flash of light that caught Evan’s attention. He glanced around the room trying to catch it again and for a bit, he thought he must have imagined it until he saw it again. Evan looked down at his suit and waited. There was a very faint flash of red light coming from inside the fabric of the suit. 

Evan stared at it in confusion, had his suit always had that flashing light and he just hadn’t noticed, it’s possible the light was so faint that the only reason he noticed it was because the room was super dark. Evan watched it flash again, and his eyes lit up in hope when he realized what it was. ”this is the inconspicuous spot Lui was talking about” Evan whispered to himself smiling. The light flashed again and Evan could feel his hope growing. He had a chance of escaping and all he had to do was wait. Evan’s head still was spinning and he weakly smiled to himself as he let his eyes close. Hopefully, his friends could get to him in time before its too late. 

Lui paced back and forth and Nogla took another sip of his beer. Craig typed away furiously on his laptop coffee cups littered the desk around him. He let out a frustrated sigh and gripped the side of his head. “I can’t find it” He stated,”it’s been two days since we lost contact with him and I still can’t find the signal." Craig let his head fall to the desk in disappointment. 

Lui put a hand on his shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze “it’s okay Craig we’ll find him but for now you should get some sleep. You’ve been at this for two days now” Craig looked at his laptop which still said no signal found and let out a defeated sigh. “I guess you’re right,” Craig said. He pushed his laptop forward and laid his head down on the desk. “what are you doing” Lui said slightly smiling. “Going to sleep” Craig mumbled. Lui chuckled a bit looking down at his friend “I meant in your bed.” 

“I know but I think it’s best if I stay by the laptop just in case it finds a signal.” Lui looked at the laptop “How would we know if it found a signal” he asked. “Oh it makes a little beep and says signal found” Craig mumble half asleep. Lui turned to leave when the computer made a small beeping sound causing him to snap back around. “Yeah just like that” Craig said still asleep. 

“Uh Craig” Lui said staring at the laptop. Craig’s head shot up and he pulled the laptop to him as fast as he could. The screen flashed with the words signal found. Craig lept out of his seat with joy “I found it!” He yelled looking at a small red blip on the map of the city signaling Evan's location. 

But just as fast as it appeared it was gone again. “No…no, no, no!” Craig said as he slammed his hands on the keyboard. "What happen" Lui asked looking at where the dot used to be. “I lost it again” Craig said. “Craig zoom in to where the dot use to be” Nogla asked putting his bottle aside and walking over to them. Craige zoomed into the map and Nogla instantly recognized the house where Evan's signal came from. 

“He’s there” Nogla said and Lui nodded in agreement. “Come on then let's go,” Craig said shutting his laptop. All three of them raced to get ready. Lui grabbed a duffle bag of weapons, Craig took his laptop and the keys to the van while Nogla grabbed a few basic medical supplies. Craig started the van as the others got in and they raced off towards Evan's last known location. 

Jonathan stirred in his bed buried deeply in his blue covers clutching tightly to a small brown teddy bear. Tears still stained his cheeks as he slowly cracked his eyes open and sat up. He glanced over to the mask laying next to him and let out a long sigh. He pulled off his blue hoody and tossed it to the side before slipping on his warmer gray version. He didn’t want to be reminded at all about being Delirious. He trudged over to his window that overlooked the front yard. He watched the birds fly around trying desperately to keep his mind off of the basement and the fact that Evan was tied up down there alone and probably scared. 

Jonathan could feel guilt slowly crawl up his spine causing him to shiver. He pulled the hoody in closer and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He felt cold for some reason, He felt cold and alone. Jonathan stepped out of his room and casually walked down a small hall until he reached a flight of stairs that lead down to the living room. He walked down them and hesitated for a second when he saw the bookshelf that hid the elevator before turning and heading into the kitchen. He pulled open a cabinet and grabbed a glass, before walking over to the sink to fill it up with water. 

He then placed the cup into the microwave setting the timer for 2 minutes. He looked out the kitchen window as he waited for it to finish and frowned when he saw a guard walk by. Mr. Pelter had increased security around here since they captured Evan and it annoyed him. It used to be quiet and peaceful the only thing he had to avoid was the cameras which was easy, all he had to do was cover them but now there were complete strangers walking around the property. The microwave finished and Jonathan grabbed the cup of now hot water, he placed it down on the counter before reaching up into another cabinet, grabbing a cup of instant noodles. He peeled back the lid and poured the water in, resealing it so the noodles could absorb the water. 

Jonathan found himself staring at the bookshelf again. How long had Evan been down there now, two days? When was the last time he had eaten or had something drink for that matter? Jonathan glanced down at his own noodles before looking back up at the shelf. His eyes traced the wall until he spotted a security camera aimed at the secret entrance. He’d probably get in trouble if Mr. Pelter saw him going down there without permission. 

Then again all he has to do is temporarily shut down the cameras. Jonathan glanced down at the noodles again his own stomach grumbled and he could only imagine what Evan felt right now. Jonathan clenched his fists and turned away from the noodles and ran back up the stairs. He ran two doors past his own room and carefully opened the next door and stuck his head in. 

He looked around the room which was Mr. Pelter office but didn’t spot the man. Jonathan was a bit curious where he was but for the moment he didn’t seem to be home and that work in Jonathan's favor. Jonathan closed the door and turned to the adjacent door across from it. He pulled it open and stepped into a surveillance room. 

There was a monitor for each room in the house even for his own but the screen was blacked out mostly because Jonathan went through the effort of always covering the camera. Jonathan walked over to the control panel and was about to momentarily shut off the cameras when something caught his eye. 

He looked at the monitor that showed the front gate. The same one he had been watching Evan through when he first arrived at the house. A van was parked in front and two men were crouched by the silver box that was used to open the gate. Jonathan swore under his breath and went to reach for the button that sounded the alarm but his hand hesitated just before pressing it. He started at the monitor harder his hand hovering just over the button, He recognized one of them. There was a tall lanky man and Jonathan knew he had seen him before. 

“is that David?” Jonathan said out loud to himself squinting at the screen. “It is him! Why is he here?” He said. Suddenly the light bulb went off in Jonathan's head as he put two and two together. They were here to rescue Evan. Jonathan smiled to himself, this was his chance. He began to shut off camera after camera. This was his chance to help Evan escape, he shut off each alarm and unlocked the front gate for them. He couldn’t do it directly but doesn't mean he had to stop his friends from saving him. Jonathan looked at the front gate camera one last time and saw David and Evan’s other friend carefully push the gate open and sneak in. Jonathan shut that camera down too and erased all security footage for the past 24 hours. 

He then raced out of the room and down the stairs toward the bookshelf. He shoved the books to the floor and pressed the button revealing the hidden elevator. He then raced back up the stairs where he hid behind the wall so that he could keep an eye on the living room to see if they make it or not. He would just have to hope they were skilled enough to make it into the house without alerting the guards scattered around the property. 

Lui pulled at a wire inside the control box for the gate while Nogla stood just beside him looking over his shoulder. The gate beside them made a clicking sound indicating it was unlocked Nogla smiled at Lui “you did it” He said and ran over to pull the gate open. Lui looked at the gate in confusion as Nogla was able to pull it open enough for them to squeeze through. “What's wrong,” Nogla asked from the other side of the gate. Lui shook his head “Nothing I just thought it would be harder to open the gate up” He said as he stepped trough. 

He pulled off the duffle bag he had around his shoulder and set it on the ground. He pulled out two pistols and handed them over to Nogla who put one in his back pocket and held onto the other. He also had a large combat knife strapped to his belt. Lui pulled out a rifle from the bag along with an extra pistol that he also put behind his back just in case. They look back one last time to the van where Craig was sitting in the driver seat trying to hack into the security system. He gave them a quick thumbs up before they turn and ran up the driveway towards the house. 

Lui grimace to himself mentally cursing that he didn’t create more earpieces for situations just like this. They would just have to hope the Craig was successful at shutting off any security this place had. Lui led the way and with his rifle raised they carefully made their way towards the front of the mansion by hiding in the bushes. Wherever Evan was, he was somewhere on this property and they were going to find him no matter what. 

A guard looking bored out of his mind was leaning against a pillar that was one of many just in front of the front door. Lui held his finger to his mouth indicating to Nogla to be quiet. Lui slowly crept out of his bush and made his way to one of the other pillars behind the guard. He reached behind himself and pulled out a knife from his belt. 

He cautiously looked around before slowly approaching the guard’s back. When Lui deemed he was close enough he wrapped his free hand around the man’s mouth and drug the knife across his neck slitting it. He dragged the now limp body back into the bushes leaving it there to bleed out while Nogla made his way for the door. He carefully opened it and stepped inside checking for any more guards. They slowly made their way down into the kitchen ducking down when they saw a guard passing the window just outside. 

“Hey” Lui whispered pulling at Nogla’s sleeve. “What’s that?” Lui pointed out of the kitchen and into what seemed to be a living room that was lined with bookshelves but in the middle of one of them was a weird looking elevator. Nogla shrugged and they carefully walked past the stairs and over to it. Neither one of them noticed an ecstatic Jonathan sitting at the top of the stairs. 

He watched as both of them exchanged a quick glance. “If Evan’s anywhere I’d bet he’s down there,” David said to the shorter one. He nodded and carefully stepped into the elevator. “Well here goes nothing,” He said and the elevator doors shut. Jonathan held his breath if they’ve made it this far they can handle the rest. 

Lui and Nogla ready themselves as they rode down the elevator. Lui had his finger on the trigger ready to go when the elevator doors opened up. Two guards glance over to the now opened elevators expecting to see Mr. Pelter or Delirious. Their eyes widened when they instead saw Nogla and Lui but they didn’t have time to draw their weapons because Lui had already shot them. The bullets were loud and they just hoped they where far enough underground that no one could hear it up top. They raced down the hall to the only door there and threw it open. 

The door burst open in front of Evan and he had to squint due to the amount of light now flooding into the room. Two figures ran in and paused for a second when they saw him tied to the chair. “Evan!” Nogla shouted and ran towards him. Evan weakly looked up at the tall Irish man as he ran up to him and immediately began to cut away the bonds. “what took you guys so long” Evan said smiling as he writes were cut free. 

“We lost you signal for a long time,” Lui said who was standing by the door watching to make sure they weren’t ambushed by any extra guards. He took a quick glance around the room before looking back down the hallway again. “I think it has something to do with this room.” Lui said “we are already underground far enough that it could cause a problem with the signal but these walls seem to be extra thick and almost partly made out of lead.” He continued. “honestly if I’m right I’m surprised we were able to catch your signal at all" Lui said looking back at Evan. “the door must have been left open long enough at some point for your signal to get through” 

Evan thought back to when Mr. Pelter first entered the room or when Delirious hesitated for a bit before closing the door as they left. “Guess I got lucky” Evan said as Nogla finally cut his feet free. Evan went to stand but the whole world seemed to sway beneath him and he stumbled forward a bit before Nogla managed to catch him. “Watch it Evan, I think you might have a concussion” Nogla said trying to carefully guide his friend to the door. Evan shook his head brushing him off “No I’m fine I can handle my self.” Both Lui and Nogla gave Evan concerned looks but they didn’t say anything about it. “Come on“ Lui said “Mini’s out front with the van” He said stepping out into the hallway with his rifle raised and ready to fire. Nogla tossed Evan a pistol before following Lui out the door with his own pistol drawn. Evan reached down and picked up his mask that had been tossed aside by Mr. Pelter and quickly followed suit and they made their way towards the elevator down the hall. 

“Hey, where are we?” Evan asked as they ran down the hallway. “We’re underneath the mansion,” Lui said “the mansion,” Evan said a bit in surprise. Lui nodded to reconfirm that’s what he said and continued to run down the hallway. They passed several corpse of hired mercenaries that looked similar to the ones that were guarding the warehouse as they approached the elevator doors. “wait we can’t leave yet!” Evan said staring down at the corpse. “What why not!” Lui asked as he pressed the button to call the elevator. “The drone!” Evan said “They still haven’t figured how to hack into its systems yet” Evan said “we need to get that before they figure out where our base is.” 

“Evan you are in no condition to be pulling something like that off right now” Nogla said “look at you! you can bearly stand right now!” “No I’m fine, we need to get that drone back” Evan said. Nogla was right he was in no shape to be going after the drone but what choice did they have. It was bad enough that Mr. Pelter now knows what he looks like but if he found out where the base was too, it would be game over. 

“do you even have any idea where it is” Nogla said as they waited for the elevator. Evan shook his head as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside “I have no clue, but we need to get it back.” They all stood there for a bit in silent before Nogla spoke up. “Jonathan might know” He said looking over to Evan who was leaning against the wall. Evan was a bit taken aback by the suggestion “No” he said firmly. “I’m not dragging him into this.” 

“You don’t think he’s not already involved!” Nogla said. "His dad is the leader of the mafia and we just attacked his house, even if he wasn’t involved before he is now.” Nogla said trying to reason with Evan but he still shook his head. “We don’t even know if he’s home or not.” Evan said. “True” Nogla said “But it wouldn't hurt to check, if we can find him maybe he’ll show us where the drone is” 

Evan looked away from Nogla as he thought about it. He knew Nogla was right again, Jonathan was their best bet to find the drone but it hurt to even think about putting him in any danger. If they forced him to give them the drone what would happen to him. How would Mr. Pelter react to losing the only way of finding out where their base is and if he found out Jonathan was the one to give it to them. Evan shuttered and pushed those thoughts away they need the drone and Jonathan prove he can more then handle himself during rough situations. 

“Fine” Evan said as the elevator slowly came to a stop. “I’ll look for him and try not to be seen by him he might recognize you” Evan said to Nogla as he slipped his mask back on just as the elevator doors opened revealing the living room of the mansion. 

Jonathan sat at the top of the stairs just out of sight watching the elevator door waiting to see if Evan’s friends were successful in getting him out or not. The elevator made a dink catching Jonathan's attention. He watched the doors open and Evan who was now wearing his mask again and his friends careful make their way out of the elevator. Evan seemed a bit surprised by the lack of guards trying to attack them. 

“Where is everyone trying to stop us,” Evan asked and the shorter man with the rifle smiled back at him. “No one knows we’re here yet. We were careful to not set off any alarms and if we needed to take out any guards we did it quietly.” Evan seemed like he was about to speak when someone let out a shout and a bullet wised past his face. Evan and his friend scrambled for cover and a guard stepped out into view. 

Even Jonathan was a bit surprised by this he didn’t notice the guard coming in but lucky he was a lousy shot. The guard quickly radioed for back up and took cover behind a wall. “So much for being sneaky” Evan said as he crouched down behind a couch. “Shit we don’t have time for this” David said “Go find Jonathan. We’ll hold them off here.” Evan nodded and began to make his way towards the stairs as fast but as carefully as he could. 

Jonathan’s eyes widened when he heard this and when he saw Evan heading for the stairs. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran towards his room before Evan reached the bottom of the stairs. He closed the bedroom door as softly as he could to not draw attention to it before trying to find a place to hide. 

He spotted his mask lying out in the open on his bed along with his signature blue hoody. Jonathan swore under his breath as he grabbed the mask and shoved it into one of his desk's drawers and quickly kicked his hoody under the bed. He could still hear gunfire from downstairs and it made it impossible to hear how close Evan was to his room. 

Jonathan pulled open the door to his closet and quickly step inside leaving the door just open enough that he could peek through. He crouched down trying to make himself less noticeable just in case even did open his closet. He didn’t know why Evan was looking for him, he didn’t really know why he was hiding either. It was just Evan, so why was he so nervous. Had Evan figure it out, does he now know he’s delirious. What if he’s coming up here to kill him right now. 

Jonathan felt his heart start to race when he saw his bedroom door slowly swing open. Evan carefully stepped inside and began looking around. Could he even defend himself Jonathan thought. If Evan truly wanted to kill him could he even fight back, could he hurt Evan. He’s fought Vanoss before no problem but this was now Evan one of the few people he cared about. Evan got closer to the closet and Jonathan felt his heart beat even fast. 

No he couldn’t fight Evan but there was no way he was just going to sit there. There was a shout from downstairs causing even to turn away from the closet door and look towards the hallway. Jonathan couldn’t make out what the shout was but he didn’t care this was his chance. He pushed open the closet door surprising Evan and booked it towards the hallway. Evan screamed his name and told him to stop but Jonathan didn’t listen. 

He burst out into the hallway as fast as he could just as a guard made his way to the top of the stairs. They saw each other and the guard recognized him as Jonathan the boss's son but it was too late. Jonathan sudden appearance had startled the already on edge guard and he fired his gun. Both the guard and Jonathan had acted out of instinct and there was no stopping it now. Jonathan felt the warm familiar feeling of blood as it soaked into his gray hoody but it wasn’t his. He felt drops run down his hands as he started up in shock. 

Evan stood between him and the guard who had now gone completely pale. Blood gushed from his side where he had been shot and he collapsed to the floor. He let out a shaky breath of pain, glaring at the guard beneath his mask. Jonathan was shaking he didn’t know what to do, there was so much blood, Evan's blood. Jonathan tore of his hoody and crawled over to Evan who was panting on the floor desperately trying to stop the bleeding himself with his hand. Jonathan removed Evan’s hand and pressed his hoody hard against the wound in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. The shorter man from before rushed up the stairs and managed to put a bullet into the guard before he had the chance to finish Evan off. He looked over and saw Evan who was lying on the floor bleeding and a shaking Jonathan who was desperately trying to stop it. 

“Shit.” Lui mumbled, “Nogla get up here!” He yelled as he ran over to them. He grabbed Jonathan by the back of his shirt and pulled him away from Evan. Jonathan kicked and screamed for him to let go but Lui pulled him back into his room before he let go. Jonathan tried to rush back to Evan side but Lui stood in his way. “Stay here and out of sight you’ll be safe okay I promise” and he quickly shut the door not giving Jonathan a chance to respond. Lui jammed a chair underneath the handle of Jonathan's door locking him in there. He felt bad for locking the kid away but he couldn’t take the chance that he’d recognize Nogla or maybe even Evan. 

Jonathan slammed his fist into the door but it wouldn’t budge. Tears swelled in his eyes and he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His shirt was soaked in blood and it made him sick. He tore it off as fast as he could and tried to use the cleanest part of the shirt to rub off the blood covering his hands. He scrubbed and scraped till his hands burned but he had gotten most of the blood off, but even though most of the blood was gone he still felt it. It still felt like the sticky warm liquid caked his hands even though he couldn’t see it. 

It was his fault that Evan got shot, all because he couldn’t control his emotions. He let fear dictate what he should do and his friend was now dying because of it. Jonathan glanced out the window and his eyes widened, he instantly felt panicked but he quickly pushed that aside and steeled himself once again. He wasn't going to let his emotions control him this time. 

He grabbed his mask out of the draw and threw on his blue hoody as fast as he could. he grabbed the pistol that he kept hidden and slammed his shoulder into the door as hard as he could. The chair slipped out from underneath the handle and he booked it down the hallway hoping he could get there in time. 

Nogla pulled the unconscious Evan out of the house as fast as he could with Lui tailing close behind checking to make sure there were no more guards following them. Nogla froze when he saw a guard pointing his gun right at him. The guard saw Lui and shifted his aim to him. All three of them froze not willing to move. Nogla mentally cursed himself there was no way he could get to his gun on time without being noticed and if Lui even flinches the guard would put a bullet into him. 

"Don't move" the guard threatened, "drop the gun" he added looking at Lui. Lui did as he was told making sure the guard could see his hands at all times. He let his gun rest on the ground and slowly stood back up. The guard smirked and pulled out a radio "I've got them." He said and continued to describe the situation to whoever was on the other end of the radio. 

Nogla watched Lui slowly move his hand behind his back trying to reach his extra handgun without the guard noticing. Evan coughed up bits of blood and Nogla desperately tried to get him to stop. The guard looked up at them because of Evan's sudden coughing fit. He quickly noticed Lui "Hey!" he yelled raising his gun to fire at Lui. Lui swore and Nogla watched him try to pull his gun out in time but it was too late. 

A gunshot rang out and Lui jerked back. Nogla watched in shock and fear expecting to see his friend to fall back dead but he didn't. Lui patted his chest expecting to find a bullet hole but there was nothing. He glanced up at the guard in confusion who just stared blankly back at them. A small stream of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth before his body fell limply to the ground. Delirious stood there his gun still aimed where the man's back had been. Both Nogla and Lui started at him in shock and Delirious just shifted the aim of his gun back towards Lui. "Drop it" he said Lui let his extra pistol fall to the ground and looked back at Delirious. "Kick them towards me" he said coldly. Lui did what he was told and kick both guns towards Delirious while Nogla still held up Evan who was losing blood rapidly. 

Delirious put his foot down on the rifle and let his gun lower. "Go" he said motioning towards the gate. They looked him in confusion "what?" Lui asked "Go!" Delirious said louder "Go and get your friend to the hospital before I change my fucking mind" he yelled crossing his arms Lui ran over to Nogla and started to help him carry Evan back to the van. Nogla paused for a second as they passed Delirious "thanks" he said. Delirious looked back at him in surprise but quickly turned away "I owe him one... so just go" he said and began walking back into the house. 

Lui and Nogla quickly scrambled their way back to the van as fast as they could and pulled open the back van doors. Nogla pulled Evan into the back and Lui got up in front next to Craig. 

"What happened!" he said when he saw the bloody up Evan being pulled into the van. "We'll tell you later just drive" Lui said who was still a bit pale from the whole ordeal. Craig stepped on it and the van leapt forward down the street and Evan let out a moan of pain as Nogla put pressure on his gunshot wound. 

Craig turned left to head towards the base but Nogla yelled for him to stop. Craig slammed on the brakes and the car behind them had severe out of the way to avoid rear-ending them, blaring their horn as they passed. "Why did we stop" Lui asked looking back at Nogla. "We don't have time to make to the base" He said his hands were soaked in Evan's blood as he continued to put pressure "he's losing to much blood we need to take him the hospital instead." Craig swore to himself and turned the van around speeding off towards the hospital as fast as he could. 

"Lui" Nogla called "get back here and help me get him out of his suit." Lui undid his seat belt and crawled back over to Nogla and Evan. They carefully slipped him out of his suit and threw on whatever extra clothing they had lying around the van. Nogla wrapped Evan's wounds as best as he could but the bleeding wouldn't stop. Evan's breathing became more strained and a cold sweat broke out over his body. "Hold on Evan" Nogla said looking down at him. Evan's eyes weakly fluttered open and he could see the blurry image of Nogla looking down at him. 

He weakly smiled up him "okay" he whispered before his vision completely faded away.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N Hello!! Sorry about this taking so long again, I thought that now that it was summer I would have more time to work on this story but I almost seem to have less time. Also my sleep schedule is completely screwed up, it’s four in the morning right now but it’s fine. I’m just glad that I finished this chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes again it’s four in the morning and I’m practically falling asleep trying to type this. Anyways I hope you enjoy it!!

Mr. Pelter stared at Jonathan who didn't have a scratch on him compared to the torn up house and the dead guard laying slumped over in the driveway. "you didn't even try to stop them did you?" He said staring down at the cold corps. Jonathan said nothing and Mr. Pelter let out a frustrated sigh. "I knew you wouldn't go through with this willingly," he said turning towards the house and motioned for Jonathan to follow. He hesitated for a second earing a harsh glare before he finial began to follow. He could feel his heart thumping hard in his chest but he felt nothing as he followed Mr. Pelter up the stairs and to his office. 

Jonathan’s body screamed for him to run to not enter the room but his mind was oddly silent. He stepped in not even bothering to look up at Mr. Pelter who held the door open for him. Jonathan sat down in a chair in front of the desk. He stared down at his hands as Mr. Pelter stepped around the desk and sat into his own seat. “I hope you know you’ve forced me to do this right,” he said folding his hands onto the desk. He leaned forward and stared at Jonathan who was still looking at his lap “look at me when I’m talking to you Jonathan” He said but he still didn’t move. 

Mr. Pelter sighed and leaned over to the side of the desk where a phone rested. He picked it up and dialed a number waiting for the other side to pick up. The phone rang three times before someone finally picked it up “Bring them up” Mr. Pelter instructed into the phone before hanging up again. While they waited Mr. Pelter stared at Jonathan who was trapped within his own mind. Jonathan watched Evan get shot over and over within his mind still ignoring everything else around him. 

There was a knock on the door and Mr. Pelter looked up “Come in” he said and the doors swung open. Luke was pushed into the room hard by the guard followed by Ryan. Luke glared at the guard behind him before turning around to see Jonathan staring blankly at them. "Jonathan?" Ryan asked, "what's going on, why are we even here?" Ryan looked around in confusion but Jonathan didn't even look at him. 

"Jonathan!" Luke called but still got no response. "I'm sure you know why their here," Mr. Pelter said to Jonathan who just looked at him. Mr. Pelter was slightly surprised by his response he'd expected him to be angry and demand that his friends be left out of it, but there was nothing. The will in his eyes were gone and he had excepted his fate. Mr. Pelter felt his smile growing had he done it? "Jonathan!" Luke called again this time walking up to him and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Jonathan it's me, Luke!" He called again shaking his shoulder. Jonathan blinked and Mr. Pelter 's smile fell. 

"Luke! Ryan! What are you guys doing here!" He said surprises. Jonathan turned to Mr. Pelter "you bastard" he growled. "Until you do as I ask you friends will remain here where I can see them 24/7, maybe then you'll be motivated to actually do something next time," Mr. Pelter said "take them to the basement and make sure they stay down there" Mr. Pelter directed his guards who nodded and began walking towards Luke and Ryan. Jonathan stepped between them. 

"I'm not let you do this" Jonathan said sternly and Mr. Pelter rolled his eyes "I'm really getting tired of this you know" Mr. Pelter pulled a pistol from underneath the desk and shot at Ryan. Jonathan and Luke didn't have any time to react as they watched their friend collapse to the ground gripping his leg. Ryan cried out in pain as blood gushed from his thigh. 

Jonathan stared at the blood gushing from Ryan's leg in shock and saw images of Evan lying on the floor bleeding. The sticky feeling on his hands slowly returned and he could feel the panic set in again. Luke crouched by Ryan's side and put pressure on the wound. "You bastard!" Luke screamed but all Mr. Pelter did was shift the gun towards him. "Alright!" Jonathan screamed when he saw this "I'll do it" Mr. Pelter smiled and lowered his gun, "good" he said and he monitored for the guards to take Luke and Ryan away. "make sure he received the proper medical care" Mr. Pelter said to the guard that grabbed Ryan. Luke tried to put up a fight but he was overpowered and dragged out of the room. 

A torn up Jonathan soon followed leaving Mr. Pelter alone to his thoughts. He started at the gun in his hands and at Ryan's blood on the ground staining the carpet. He grinned when he thought of how close he was to breaking Jonathan. Once he was shattered he could begin to rebuild him the way he wanted. All he need to do was get rid of what motivated him. He continued to stare at the blood as Jonathan stormed out of the house furious and scared, off to do one of the worst things he's ever had to do.

Evan slowly peeled open his eyes and was greeted to a pitch black room. Evan looked around expecting to see some kind of furniture but he saw nothing just a black void surrounding him. He tried to sit up but was stopped by long straps holding him down in a medical-looking bed. Evan tugged on them but they wouldn't budge. "Ohh Evan..." a voice cooed from the darkness around him. He glanced everywhere trying to locate the source of the voice but he could find it. "You can't hide from me anymore, I know what you look like," the voice said again this time a bit closer. "Wh...who's there!" Evan stuttered. 

The crazed laughter that echoed through the void giving away the voice's identity. Delirious stood in front of him, still with the long crack along his mask." what are you scared" he said twirling his knife in his hand "just imagine how scared your friends will be when I get to them." He said grinning beneath his mask. "No!" Evan said desperately tugging at the straps holding him down, but Delirious ignored him. "Just think about it, soon they'll all be dead just like your parents, and it'd be all your fault" Delirious sneered. 

"Evan!" A voice cried out but it sounds the same as Delirious but he didn't say it. Delirious let out a laugh "I can't wait to carve my knife into their flesh and watch the life leave their eyes after I tell them that you're the reason they're dead" "No! I'll protect them" Evan said in distress "Evan!" The voice called again slightly louder. "And how do you plan to do that while you're strapped down to a hospital bed." Evan said nothing and the voice called his name again even louder than before. 

Delirious looked up at the black void above them where the ceiling should be "I guess I'll be going now," he laughed again as he turned and walked away slowly fading into the darkness. Once Delirious completely faded away Evan found his eyes slowly opening. He saw the blurred image of someone standing over him and something clenching his hand very tightly. The person screamed his name again and shook him a bit. Slowly Evan's eyes forced and he saw a teared up Jonathan standing above him. 

"Oh thank god," Jonathan said practically falling to the floor in relief still tightly clutching Evan's hand. " I thought I lost you for a minute there," he said wiping away the tears in his eyes. Evan smiled and weakly squeaked Jonathan's hand. "What happened," Jonathan asked even though he already knew the truth. Evan hesitated he didn't know what Jonathan knew already maybe Nogla had told him a cover-up story and if he said something different it could cause Jonathan to become suspicious. 

Evan opened his mouth to say something when the door to his room opened and Nogla stepped inside wearing a doctors coat. His eyes widened with relief and a smile spread across his face when he saw the pair's hands intertwined. “Evan you’re awake,” He said walking to the side of the bed to stand next to Jonathan. “David?” Jonathan asked, “You work here?” Nogal smiled at him “I do” He looked over to Evan who was still slightly dazed. “How are you feeling,” Nogla asked and Evan tiredly rubbed his eyes. “I feel like a truck hit me, what even happened.” Evan said giving Nogla a look flicking his eyes at Jonathan who didn’t notice. 

Nogla understood and slightly smiled at Evan. “That’s because you did,” Nogla said crossing his arm putting a serious look. “Are you telling me you don’t remember anything from the accident” Evan shook his head “I’m afraid I don’t” He glanced over to Jonathan who was staring down at the floor hoping he bought the fabricated story. Jonathan, on the other hand, was struggling to keep his emotions together. 

He wanted to scream at Evan for being so reckless for risking his own life to save his worthless existence. He should be in Evan's place right now, but instead, the person he cared about was suffering because of his mistakes and once Evan got released from the hospital it was only going to get worst. He didn’t have a choice he had to protect Luke and Ryan. But was this really the right thing to do. Was this really his only choice? He could tell Evan that he was Delirious and beg for forgiveness and pleaded with him to help him save his friend. Jonathan looked up from the floor and found Evan and Nogla staring at him. 

Evan squeezed Jonathan’s hand and had a concerned look on his face. “Are you okay?” He asked. Jonathan felt guilt boiling in his chest. Evan had a deep look of concern in his eyes and it made Jonathan look away. He didn’t deserve Evan’s concern, He was a monster that deserved to be hated, to be scorned and left to rot in the mess that he made. He felt tears swell up in his eyes and slowly drip down his face. “You’re an idiot you know that right” Jonathan said swiftly wiping the tears away. “you can say that again,” Nogal said trying to lighten the mood. He walked over to the foot of the bed and grabbed the clipboard hanging there. “I’m going to go check to see when you can be discharged.” He said leaving the room as fast as he could. 

Evan glared at the door when he left but returned his focus to Jonathan who was still trying to wipe away tears. “Come here,” Evan said pulling on Jonathan's hand. Jonathan scooted his chair closer and Evan reached up brushing the tears off of Jonathan's face with his thumb. “Hey,” He said softly letting his hand rest on Jonathan's cheek. Jonathan reached up and gripped the back of Evan’s hand keeping it in place against his face. 

“it’s okay I’m fine” Evan wiped another tear that fell from Jonathan’s eyes. “Everything will be fine you don’t need to worry about me.” He said. Those words hurt Jonathan the knowing the fate that will await Evan when he leaves. Evan smiled and he slowly moved his hand to the back of Jonathan's head and slightly pushed it forward so that their foreheads touched “Whatever happens I’ll be fine because I know you’ll be there for me” It felt like a knife tore its way into Jonathan’s heart and his grip tightened around Evan’s hand. He felt dirty and worthless, Mr. Pelter had suggested that Evan was just using him as a pawn but really it was him who was using Evan. He was betraying his trust just by being here and it hurt. He wished he could drop it all and tell him the truth but he was too scared that Evan would leave him behind in a rotten world. He knew that he deserved that fate but he was too scared to accept it. 

They remained with their foreheads touching for a short while longer before Nogal walked back into the room. He froze when he saw the two and cleared his throat. “I hope I’m not interrupting something” Jonathan jumped back startled by David's sudden appearance blushing madly that David saw them like that. Evan covered his face with his hand his face bright red with embarrassment. “Sorry about that,” Nogla said “But I regret to inform you that visiting time is over,” Nogla said looking towards Jonathan. Jonathan quickly stood up still blushing. “Oh sorry about that” Jonathan said walking quickly towards the door almost tripping over his chair. He walked out the door but quickly popped his head back in “I’ll check on you tomorrow Evan” He said before disappearing behind the doorway again. Nogla smiled as he watched a flustered and clumsy Jonathan leave the room, before turning to Evan who had a small smile plastered on his face. 

Evan looked up at Nogla and his face grew serious. “How long was I out,” He asked and Nogla walked over to the chair that Jonathan had just occupied. “4 days,” He said taking off his doctor's coat before sitting down. “Could have fooled me” Evan said as he watched Nogla take off the name tag that said he worked there. Nogla chuckled a bit as he stuffed the badge into his pocket. “You can thank Lui for creating it, no one suspected a thing when I changed your discharged time.” 

“that’s good then,” Evan stated letting his head fall back. “How bad are my injuries,” he asked with his eyes closed. “Not horrible,” Nogla replied looking over the clipboard he took earlier. “The bullet missed any vital organs but it did fracture when it clipped your last thoracic vertebrae and lodged itself into your coxa which needed surgery to be removed but other than that you’re okay. Lucky as hell but okay” Nogla finished putting the clipboard back looking at Evan who just stared at him blankly. “What?” Nogal questioned. 

“Next time you tell me what wrong with me please speak English,” Evan asked. “I did!” Nogla said still confused. “I have no idea what a thoracic vertebrae is,” Evan said crossing his arms. “Oh…” Nogla said not realizing that he had used medical terms. “Basically the bullet hit your last rib and fracture. Part of the bullet remained by that rib but the other half lodged itself into your hip which needed surgery to remove.” Nogla clarified standing up form the chair. “You should get some rest, I’ll pick you up tomorrow when you're discharged.” Evan nodded and said his goodbyes as Nogla left. 

He snuggled his way deeper into the covers of the hospital bed and let his body slowly fall asleep with the help of the drugs that were still in his system.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N Hello again! I finally managed to finish another chapter! And sadly we are reaching the end of the story and the next chapter very well might be the last one, maybe I can split it into two but we’ll see. Anyways sorry about this taking so long and for any grammar or spelling errors I may have missed. Also if you have any story ideas that you would like to see please let me know. I have the pirate one and I do like the idea I have for it but its super long and its going to take me a long time to write, so if you have a idea for a shorter story I’d love to hear it. Anyway I hope you like it and don’t forget to tell me how you think the chapter went!

Nogla let out a deep sigh as he pushed open the hospital doors and stepped out on to the sidewalk. He looked up at the towering building to about where he thought Evan’s room was before turning away and walking towards the parking lot. He couldn’t help but feel slightly responsible for Evan being in the condition he was in. 

He should have known Evan would have been held at the mansion. If he had realized sooner maybe things would have happened differently. For one Evan wouldn’t have been so dehydrated, the human body can only go for a few days without water before vital organs start to shut down. On top, it all off Evan had sustained a massive head injury if left unchecked for much longer he could have suffered from some form of brain damage. 

Hell, he could have already Nogla thought to himself. He didn’t have a lot of time to thoroughly examine Evan. He made sure all critical injuries were taken care of but slight brain damage could have slipped under the radar. Nogla pulled out his keys as he approached his car. Evan seemed to be fine when he woke up so maybe everything will work it’s self out. 

Nogla pressed down on the button that unlocked the car door and placed his hand on the door handle. Nogla felt something cold suddenly being pressed against the side of his neck and froze. “Drop the keys,” A voice said from behind him. Nogla swallowed and let the keys slip through his fingers and fall to the floor. The stranger moved the knife away a bit so that it was no longer in direct contact with Nogla’s neck. “Good now I need you to…” 

The stranger began but was cut off when Nogla spun as fast as he could and slammed the back of his heel into the attacker's face. The person stumbled back and Nogla’s eyes widened in surprise when a familiar mask clattered on the floor. “Jon… Jonathan!” He studded out in shock as he stared at the brown haired man in front of him. Jonathan grimaced he had been caught completely off guard by Nogla’s agility and hadn’t expected him to be able to knock his mask clean off his face. 

He looked up a Nogla gripping his lower jaw in pain. “Sorry about this,” Jonathan said as he reached into the pocket of his blue hoody. He lunged at Nogla who was trying to back away with a black box in his hand. Jonathan pressed a button on the side of the box as soon as it made contact with Nogla’s skin. It made a loud zapping noise and Nogla’s body twitched, jerked and convulsed as 50,000 volts flooded his system. His body fell limply to the ground and Jonathan looked away feeling ashamed rubbing his now sore jaw, shoving the taser back into his pocket. The look of utter betray Nogla had on his face hurt Jonathan deeply and he mentally cursed himself for being so careless. 

He had assumed Nogla had no real combat skill and let his guard down. He would have never guessed he would have been able to knock his mask off. Jonathan glanced down at the worn mask and glared at it before picking it up and slipping it back on. He then grabbed the keys that Nogla had dropped and opened the back door of the car. 

Jonathan bent down and hooked his arms underneath Nogla’s shoulders and dragged him back. He lifted him up and into the car, carefully laying him across the back seats. Once Jonathan was sure Nogla was completely in the vehicle he slammed the back door shut before getting into the driver seat himself. He put the key into the ignition and started up the car. Jonathan pulled out of the hospital parking lot and drove towards the mansion. He gripped the steering wheel dreading tomorrow, how could he go back there and look Evan in the eyes after everything he’s done. 

The more Jonathan thought about it the more he realized how screwed he was. No matter what path he chose someone who he cared about was going to get hurt. If Jonathan stopped playing Mr. Pelter's sick game right now Luke, the man that Jonathan considered to be like a brother and his best friend Ryan would be killed. But if he didn’t Evan the man he loved would be mentally tortured and then probably killed. 

Jonathan’s grip tightened around the wheel and he felt a tear slip down his face. Jonathan quickly wiped it away he didn’t deserve to cry he had done this to himself and he had to now live with the consequences. He just had to keep playing and maybe just maybe Evan will find a way to save himself. 

Evan slowly cracked his eyes open and was greeted by the blaring white hospital lights shining down on him. Evan stirred in his bed and glance around the room. He had expected to see Nogla somewhere but instead, he found Jonathan sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He was curled up in a ball with his knees up to his chest and was just staring out the window with an empty look in his eyes. Evan slowly sat up the noise of the sheets moving alerted Jonathan and he glanced over at Evan. 

“How long was I out” Evan said rubbing his eyes. Jonathan let his feet touch the floor “Practically a full day” Jonathan mumbled rubbing his own eyes. “are you okay!” Evan said sitting up even straighter when he saw a dark bruise on Jonathan's left cheek. Jonathan didn’t look at Evan and he moved his hand to cover his bruise. “Yeah… I’m fine” He said standing up. Evan looked around the room again “Where’s David” Evan asked, “Maybe he can look at that bruise.” Jonathan stiffened “I don’t think he can” Jonathan mumbled looking out the window down to the parking lot. 

“What do you mean,” Evan asked, “Where is he?” Jonathan took a deep breath, what was he doing he shouldn't be mopping around like this, he just needed to keep going for a little bit longer. “I haven’t seen him all day,” Jonathan said shrugging his shoulders. He turned to Evan with a small smile on his face and clapped his hands together. “But one of the nurses came in earlier saying you are being discharged today!” Evan was taken aback by Jonathan's change of attitude and narrowed his eyes at him. “Jonathan… What’s wrong” he said again. Jonathan’s smile faltered for a second. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” He said walking over to Evan “I’m just a bit tired that’s all”. Evan didn’t seem entirely convinced but he didn’t push. Jonathan was relieved that Evan didn’t continue to interrogate him, he could feel the façade slipping and he was sure how much longer he could keep it up. “It’s weird that David’s not here though, he was supposed to take me home” Evan contemplated this for a bit trying to come up with a reason why he wouldn’t be there. “Say do you have your phone on you?” Evan asked looking at Jonathan. 

Jonathan patted down his pockets checking for his phone and when he felt it he continued to pat like he didn’t find it. He looked up at Evan and shook his head. “Sorry I must have forgotten it,” He said. Evan let his head fall back against the pillow “Well crap” He muttered “I don’t have a ride home now” “I can take you” Jonathan said as he pulled out his motorcycle's key and twirled it around his figure. “Really!” Evan said his eyes lighting up like a child's at the thought of being able to ride a motorcycle. Jonathan quietly chuckled “Yeah did you expect me just to leave you here,” He said turning to the door. 

“Hurry up and get changed I’ll go sign you out” He pointed to a set of cloth folded neatly on one of the chairs before leaving the room. Evan pulled the covers off his feet and swung them over the edge of the bed. His toes recoiled a bit when they touched the cold tile of the hospital floor but they quickly got used to it. Evan winced as he carefully removed the needle that was tapped to his arm before standing up and walking over to the pile of clothes laid out for him. Evan’s side ached as he carefully stripped off the hospital gown and slipped on his own shirt. He moved carefully while changing so that he didn’t bust any of the stitches and had just finished putting on his pants when Jonathan walked back into the room. “Ready to go when you are,” Jonathan said leaning against the doorway. Evan smiled at him and quickly put on his last shoe “Okay ready.” 

They both stood quietly in the elevator as they rode it down to the lobby. Evan couldn’t help but notice how quite Jonathan was being, normally he would be laughing and cracking jokes, but right now he was just being odd. It was almost like he wasn’t even there even though Evan could clearly see him. In fact he bearly realized how weak Jonathan looked, the bags that he carried under his eyes had only grown darker and the black and blue bruise on his cheek clashed with the paleness of his skin. His brown hair was a mess and Evan constantly found him staring off into space with a blank look. 

Jonathan, on the other hand, could feel Evan staring at him. His eyes burned holes into the back of his head and it made him paranoid. Was Evan getting suspicious that something was wrong, Jonathan chewed at his lip as they continued to ride down the elevator. Should he say something, would that help relieve the tension or would that just open the door for more questioning. There was a small ding and Jonathan felt a wave of relief when the elevator doors opened revealing the main lobby. 

Jonathan briskly stepped out glad to no longer be in such an awkward spot. He pushed opened the glass doors of the hospital and stood off to the side so that he could hold it open for Evan who tailed just behind. Evan gratefully smiled and Jonathan nodded before they both stepped out into the parking lot. 

“Soo… Where’d you park” Evan said looking around the parking lot for the familiar blue bike. Jonathan scratched his chin for a second while looking around the parking lot as well. “I think I parked somewhere over there,” Jonathan said pointing to the far end of the parking lot. “You think,” Evan said raising an eyebrow smiling. Jonathan just glared at him “Shut up!” he snapped. Jonathan's eyes widened in surprise he hadn’t meant for that to sound so heated and by the look on Evan’s face, he hadn’t expected that response either. 

Jonathan quickly turned away from Evan and started to promptly walk in the direction where he though his motorcycle was. Evan lagged behind still a bit shocked by Jonathan's response typically he would have laughed it off or cracked a joke about having short term memory loss or something else along those lines not snap like that. Evan narrowed his eyes at Jonathan’s back something was wrong very wrong and he needed to find out what. 

Jonathan chewed on his lip more as he walked down the rows in the parking lot. He was so preoccupied with the amount of guilt he felt that he didn’t even hear Evan calling him. “Jonathan!” Evan yelled again. Jonathan froze and turned around to look at Evan who was standing a good 10 feet behind. “Isn’t this it?” Evan said pointing a blue BMW bike next to him. Jonathan’s cheeks flushed a bit in embarrassment and he rubbed the back of his head as walked back towards Evan. “Oh yeah I didn’t see it,” He said with a small smile plastered on his face. 

He walked up to the bike and lifted the seat to reveal a small storage compartment. Jonathan reached in and pulled out a red motorcycle helmet and tossed it to Evan. “Safty first” He joked as he grabbed his own helmet off of the handlebars of the bike. Jonathan slipped it on and waited for Evan to do the same. Jonathan quickly checked Evan’s helmet to make sure he had put it on right causing Evan to smirk at him, “Thank you mom” Evan said as Jonathan tightened the chinstrap. Jonathan gave him a look accompanied by a light punch in the arm. Evan wined and rubbed his arm like it actually hurt while Jonathan just shook his head and got on the bike. 

He looked over at Evan who stood there with a confused look on his face. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get on.” Jonathan said. “But how?” Evan asked, “there doesn’t seem to be enough room for me.” Jonathan flipped up his visor so he could see Evan better. “have you really never ridden a motorcycle before?” He asked and Evan shook his head. 

Jonathan looked at little shocked “Oh… Well, it’s kinda like getting onto a horse. You put one leg over the other and you sit right here behind me” Jonathan said as he patted the leather seating that covered part of the back of the bike. “Okay then,” Evan said as he stepped forward. Evan threw his one leg over and sat down on the seat. 

“Okay now what,” he said looking around for some form of a seat belt. “Now you wrap your hands around me and hold on.” Jonathan said as he flipped his visor back down. “what” Evan said a little flabbergasted. “Yeah like this” Jonathan reached back and grabbed both of Evan’s hands and wrapped them around his waist. Evan blushed madly when he felt Jonathan's clearly defined abs through his shirt. 

Honestly, Evan was a bit surprised that Jonathan had muscles like that, not that he thought Jonathan was weak but typically the clothes he wore where baggy or lose so hid most of the details in his shape. “Now when we get going you need to lean against me because if you don’t our helmets are going to clank together whenever I stop okay,” Jonathan said as he started up the bike. “Okay,” Evan said and he leaned against Jonathan's back. Jonathan revved the engine and zoomed out of the parking lot at full speed. 

He could feel Evan’s grip tighten around his waist and slowed down a bit thinking Evan was scared that he was going to fall off. Well, that wasn’t the only reason he slowed down he honestly just wanted to enjoy the moment. He could feel Evan’s warmth on his back and it made him feel safe, It allowed him to almost forget everything that was happening and for a moment everything was right with the world. It was just him and Evan riding alone through the street. Jonathan blushed as Evan’s grip got even tighter almost desperate. Like if he loosened his grip for even a second he would disappear. Jonathan smiled gently and slowed the bike down a little bit more, he wanted to soak this up for as long as he could. Especially because it was probably going to be one of the last opportunities he had. 

Evan held on a little more tightly then he should have but he couldn’t help it. He was scared, not about falling off but of losing Jonathan. Something deep inside of Evan told him Jonathan was suffering but he didn’t know what was causing it or what was the best way to help. Jonathan wouldn’t tell him, he kept his troubles buried deep inside himself lock away where no one could find them and Evan could see it was taking a toll on his sanity. Evan watched as they zoomed past building and he noticed how surprisingly peaceful it was. The wind whipped past his ears creating an almost soothing beat as they drove down the road. Evan let his head rest against Jonathan's back and he could feel the fainted rhythm of Jonathan's heart through the helmet. Evan was entranced by the beat and counted along in his head. He didn’t want this to end and his heart dropped a bit when he started seeing familiar buildings pass by. 

Jonathan started to slow down before turning into the college dorms parking lot. He pulled into a parking spot just in front of the entrance before killing the engine. Jonathan unbuckled his helmet and slipped it off his head, he placed it onto the handlebars of the bike and quickly ran his hand through his short but messy brown hair to smooth it back down. “Umm Evan… You can let go now” he said with a toothy grin. Evan immediately let go when he realized he was still holding onto his waist and blushed like crazy. Lucky he was still where his helmet. 

“Sorry about that” Evan said in a bit of a panic as he quickly got off the bike. Evan waited for Jonathan to get off the bike before taking his helmet off in hopes it gave his face enough time to return to its normal color. Jonathan took the helmet and returned it to its compartment under the seat before the two made their way toward the entrance. This time Evan got to the door first and he held the door open for Jonathan who walked right in. 

They went over to the elevator and stepped inside when the doors opened up. Evan pressed the button for his floor and watched as the elevator doors closed. “Well that was fun, we should do that again,” Evan said with a bright smile on his face. “huh” Jonathan huffed earning a confused look from Evan. “What?” He questioned and Jonathan just smiled “You were scared,” he said with a matter of fact tone. “What no I wasn’t,” Evan stated. 

“Phff please,” Jonathan said with a mischievous grin on his face “You were holding onto me so tightly that it felt like you were going to squeeze me in half.” Jonathan declared. “I wasn’t scared!” Evan protested but Jonathan continued to push him. “Just admit it” He teased, his smile dropped a bit when Evan had a playful smile of his own. “I’ll show you what it’s like to be squeezed in half,” he said and lunged at Jonathan intending to give him the biggest bear hug in the world. 

Evan managed to grabbed Jonathan pull him in for a hug when the elevator doors open. ”I’m not an oversize teddy bear Evan!” Jonathan yelled. He wiggled and squirmed until he managed to slip out Evan’s grasp and booked out of the elevator laughing as he ran down the hall. Jonathan could hear Evan’s footsteps getting closer behind him. “Get back here teddy bear!” Evan yelled in between laughs as he chased Jonathan. 

Jonathan’s shoes slid on the carpeting as he rounded the corner making him slightly bump into the wall, but he quickly pushed off it and kept running. Evan, on the other hand, was not so graceful, he rounded the corner at such speed that when his shoes slid he slammed right into the wall knocking him down to the floor. Evan sat there for a bit in a daze and Jonathan ran over to him “are you alright?” he said between laughs extending his hand down to help Evan up. “I think so” Evan responded reaching up to take Jonathan's hand. 

Jonathan pulled Evan to his feet just as the door next to them swung open and an angry, stressed, looking girl stepped out. “Would you two keep it down, some of us are trying to study for finals” she growled. “Sorry,” Evan said looking apologetic “Won't happen again” The woman seemed pleased with that answer because she went back into her room and closed the door right after. 

“Asshole” Jonathan muttered and Evan chuckled a bit. “She looked like she hasn’t slept for days” Jonathan joked as they walked back to Evan’s dorm. “Finals will do that to you,” Evan said as they arrived at his dorm. Evan reached into his pocket to pull out his key but froze when he realized he still didn’t have any of his stuff. 

“What’s wrong,” Jonathan asked and Evan pulled his hand out of his pocket. “I forgot I don’t have my keys,” Evan said looking around for what to do. “Oh I know,” he said and began walking back towards the elevator. Jonathan gave him a confused look but followed him anyways. “I’ll go ask Tyler, he should have one of the extra set of keys for my room,” Evan said and Jonathan froze in his place. 

“did you say Ty…Tyler’s” Jonathan managed to stutter out. “yeah,” Evan said looking back at him, Jonathan had a terrified look on his face but he quickly covered it up. “Is something wrong?” Evan asked but Jonathan shook his head. “No! it just reminded me of something important I had to do today that I totally forgot about. I’ll see you tomorrow Evan!” He said as he turned and ran towards the stairs. “Jonathan wait!” Evan called but he had already rounded the corner and was out of sight. 

Evan stood there alone and confused for a moment before stepping back into the elevator and riding it down a floor. He stepped out and walked down the hall until he reached Tyler’s room. Evan lifted his hand and went to knock on the door, the door slightly drifted open when Evan tapped on the door. Red flags shot off in Evan’s head and he carefully made his way into the dorm. “Tyler!” He called out cautiously but got no response. 

Evan’s eye’s widened when he turned the corner and saw the small living room trashed. Evan’s heart began to race “Tyler!” He called again and ran in and out of the other rooms trying to find his friend. Evan stepped into the kitchen, broken glass crunched under his feet and there where drops of blood staining the white tile. Evan crouched down and studied the droplets, the blood was dry and it trailed up the counter. Evan followed it and resting on top was an envelope with his name written on the center. 

Evan grabbed the envelope and tore it open dumping it’s contents on to the counter. A letter fell out along with five smaller pieces of paper. Evan grabbed the folded letter first. He could practically hear Delirious's voice in his head as he read the letter and his hands trembled "If you want to see them again alive you'll come to the manor tomorrow at 3 pm... and for every hour you're late I'll put a bullet in the back of one of their heads." At the very bottom of the letter was Delirious's signature. 

Evan dropped the letter and gathered up the 5 smaller pieces of paper. Each was a picture of his friends taken from a far distance away. There was one of Tyler that was taken when he was leaving school. Nogla who was in the hospital parking lot, Marcel who was walking out the front door of his house and lastly there was a picture of Smitty who walking and talking with John down some street. On each of the photos was a large red check mark. Evan felt his heart drop to his stomach, all his worst fears were coming true. 

Evan dropped the photos onto the counter and ran into Tyler's room. He ran over to the nightstand by the bed and tore open the drawers. He fished around the junk in the draw before he found Tyler's old flip phone that he said he kept for emergencies. Evan flipped it open and switched it on praying that its battery was still charged. The screen powered on and there was a cheerful little tone before turning on completely. 

Evan frantically dialed each of his friend's number and each time it went to voicemail. Evan could feel his panic growing as he dialed Craig's number. There was a click and Craig's voice filled Evan's ear. "Hello?" Craig questioned not recognized the number. "Oh thank God," Evan said in relief leaning against the wall of Tyler's room "is Lui there to" Evan asked. "Who is this" Craig asked "it's me, Evan! Is Lui there with you!" Evan repeated. "Oh Evan, yeah his right here why? what's wrong." Evan opened his mouth to speak but Lui's voice popped up first "Hey Evan is Nogla with you" he asked. 

Evan nervously gritted his teeth "No he's gone" he said. "What what do you mean gone," Lui asked, "Delirious has him along with all my other friends!" Evan yelled and he slammed his fist against the wall. "Evan calms down, we need to think this through, get down to the base as soon as possible" Craig's said in a calming tone. "Is there anyone else you think might be in danger." 

"No the only other person I can think of is Jon..." Evan froze mid-sentence his heart leaped into his chest. "Oh, shit" Evan booked it out of the room. He had to stop Jonathan from leaving if he hadn't already left. Evan jumped down the stairwell hoping to reach the bottom floor faster. He burst through the front door and scanned the parking lot for Jonathan and his blue bike but he was nowhere to be found. 

Evan swore under his breath and kicked at a small bush next to him earning himself looks from passersby. Evan stomped over to his own car and threw open the door and got in before slamming it shut. He gripped the side of his head in frustration. He might as well now add Jonathan to the list of people in trouble. This was all his fault why did he ever think he could play the hero, all it did was get people who he cared about hurt. Evan started the car and began to drive towards the base as fast as he could, hopefully, they could come up with a good enough plan to save his friends. 

No, they will come up with a plan that saves them all and Evan didn't care what it took.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N Aghhh!! I am sooooo sorry this chapter took me so long to get out but the good new is that it’s extra long. Anyways yes this is technically the end, I say technically because I do have a small epilogue that I made as well, just got to edited it. Anyways I really hope you enjoyed the story and I would love to know how you think I could have improved it so that when I write my next story I can try and avoid those mistakes. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this story and I’ll see you in the epilogue! P.S there a small little note about the ending at the bottom if you’re curious.

The car’s tires screeched as Evan slammed on the car’s break in front of the base. He yanked the keys out of the ignition and slammed the door shut before running up to the porch. Evan pounded his fist against the door impatiently, waiting to be let in. There was a click and the Craig barely started to pull the door open when Evan pushed his way through. “Evan!” Craig called but he didn’t listen. 

He stomped his way towards Nogla’s room and pulled open the bookshelf by force. Lui cringed as the hinges of the hidden door creaked and broke causing the bookshelf to tilt slightly. Evan stormed down the stairs until he reached the party room while Craig and Lui rushed to catch up. "Evan!" Craig screamed and pulled him around by the shoulder. "Evan, what's happening? Where is Nogla!" Evan pulled away from Craig and began to pace around the room. "It's all my fault" Evan muttered. "They're gone Craig, All of them!" Evan yelled. 

"Who's gone? Nogla?" Craig questioned. "Nogla, Tyler, Smitty, Marcel. All of them!" Evan said with a pained look on his face. "They are going to die and it's my fault!" Evan said covering his face so his friends wouldn't see him starting to cry. "Evan," Lui said sternly and stomped over to him. Evan didn't look up at Lui as he approached nor when Lui seized him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in close. "Get ahold of yourself," he said harshly. "Look at me" Lui demanded and Evan shamefully turned his head to meet Lui's eyes. He had expected to see Lui glaring hatefully down at him but instead, he was met by a concern and comforting gaze. "It will be alright," he said. His tone was softer but still stern. "We'll get them back Evan and we wouldn't let anything happen to them." 

Evan's eyes widened but he shook his head "no... not we" Evan whispered. "I can't put you two in any more danger than you already are." Lui glared at him. "Nogla's our friend too Evan, we aren't just going to stand here and watch you rush into danger by yourself to save him." Lui growled. Evan felt tears start to swell and his eyes became glossy. “Let us help you,” Lui said softly. Evan quickly wiped away any stray tears and looked up at Lui. He hesitated for a moment before a look of determination crossed over his face. 

“Okay,” Evan said, “just promise me you won't go and get your selves hurt.“ Lui put a hand on Evan’s shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll do our best.” Evan wasn't entirely happy with that response but he nodded his head anyway. “Okay,” Evan breathed out and clapped his hands together. “What’s the plan. We only have till 3 o’clock tomorrow.” Both Lui and Craig took a second to think. What was the best way of handling this, they could try and sneak back in no... Evan thought. There was no way they’d be able to pull that off again the manor was probably crawling with security guards. He thought through a few more scenarios but they all end the same way, with a bullet through his head. They remained this way for several more minutes before Craig finally spoke up. “We’d need some kinda distraction,” Craig said and Lui gave him an annoyed look for stating something so obvious. 

Craig shot him a look back but continued with his train of thought. “But we also can't afford to draw too much attention to ourself while doing it because then they'll just shoot our friends” Evan nodded along in agreement. “What are you suggesting we do then,” Lui said crossing his arms. “We won’t be the ones doing the distracting” Craig said a smile growling across his face while he formulated a planned. His eyes drifted their way over to Evan and he suddenly got a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to like where this was going. 

Evan stomped down the alleyway and tugged on his mask in annoyance. “I can't believe I’m doing this!” Evan mumbled to himself as he approached a door at the side of the ally. “This is never going to work, he's too chicken,” he said as he pulled on the door. It was locked of course but Evan wasn’t in the mood to knock politely and wait for it to open. He took a few steps back and with all his strength lifted his foot and slammed it into the door just beside the handle. 

The door swung forcefully open and crashed against the wall with a loud thump. There was a startled scream from inside and Evan step into the room. It was a small one-room apartment with very little and simple furniture. Cowering on the floor by the stove was a man with his hands covering his head. “I already said I’m sorry but I had no choice! Please don’t kill me!” The man screamed curling into a tighter ball. Evan looked down at Mr. Wright through his mask. “Gees man get yourself together,” Evan said rolling his eyes “besides I’m not Delirious and I’m not going to kill you” the man slowly lifted his head and peaked through his fingers to see Evan standing there arms crossed.

“Vanoss!” Mr. Wright said slightly stunned. “What are yo...you doing here, how'd you find me?” Evan reached his hand down toward him to help him to his feet. Mr. Wright flinched away a bit before releasing what Evan was doing. He took Evan's hand and he hauled him off the floor. “Sorry about the door,” Evan said “but I'm in a rush and I have a favor to ask of you” A look of fear flashed over Mr. Wright's face “ I...I don’t know man, I have two days before my plane leaves and I can see my family again and then we are out of here” Evan gripped the man's arm causing him to jump. “If my plan goes right you won’t have to worry about Mr. Pelter ever again,” Vanoss said firmly. Mr. Wright froze in place “he'd be gone?” he asked hope glittering in his eyes. “Gone” Evan reassured. Mr. Wright hesitated for a moment concerning his options. A smile slowly spread across his lips and he looked up at Evan. “I'm in!” Evan felt his own smile grow “then come on, we don’t have long to set this up”

Jonathan paced back and forth outside the mansion, if he could he'd be bitting his nails right now but that would force him to remove his mask. He nervous glanced down at his watch and saw that the hands were steadily approaching 3'oclock. “I guess the coward isn't going to show,” Mr. Pelter said as he walked up next to Jonathan. “He'll show,” Jonathan replied crossing his arms. Mr. Pelter smirked and looked down to the person sitting on their knees between them. His hands were bound behind his back and he had a black blindfold on. 

“He'd better show up for his sake”. The man started to hurl muffled insults and tugged at his bindings to no avail. Mr. Pelter gave Jonathan a look and he glanced down at Evan’s friend named Marcel who was causing a ruckus desperately trying to escape. Jonathan sighed beneath his mask before taking out his gun. He pointed down at the man and pulled the trigger. The bullet left a large cavity in the cement next to Marcel’s leg. “Shut up,” Jonathan said coldly before reholstering his gun. Marcel stopped struggling and remained frozen in fear. Jonathan glanced down at his watch again nervously watching it tic closer and closer to 3. 

Where the hell was he, Jonathan thought frantically to himself. What was he going to do if he never does show up he thought as he resumed his panicked pacing. I'm really going to have to kill Evan’s friends. Jonathan thought about the bond he and Luke shared and how devastating it would be to him if something happened to him. He felt his stomach start to churn, he couldn’t imagine what Evan must be feeling right now. The hopelessness, the guilt, the panic.

Jonathan felt his own guilt become heavier at that thought and he continued to pace back and forth while Mr. Pelter just watched him with a sinister grin plastered on his face. Jonathan looked back down at his watch, he could feel the nervous sweat starting to accumulate under his mask as he stared at the watch’s face. It was 2 minutes to 3. Mr. Pelter turned to one of the many guards posted outside “Any signs of Vanoss yet” the guard shook his head “no reported sightings sir.” Mr. Pelter looked away from the guard and let out a huff. “Such a shame,” he said as he leaned down close to Marcel's ear. “Looks like we'll be killing you after all” 

Marcel's body stiffened as Mr. Pelter stood up straight and pulled out his gun. He held the gun close to Marcel and cocked it loudly. Marcel frantically shook his head and tears flowed down his cheeks. He let out a panicked muffled scream as Mr. Pelter pushed the barrel of the gun against the back of his head. Mr. Pelter's smile grew as he maneuvered his finger to rest on the triggered. “it's not 3 yet,” Jonathan said trying to keep the panic out of his voice. 

“He’s not going to show up within the next 30 seconds,” Mr. Pelter said slightly annoyed. “You don’t kn...” Jonathan was cut off by the guard next to Mr. Pelter letting out a startled scream and frantically reaching up to his ear. He pulled out his earpiece and tossed it to the ground. “What is it!” Mr. Pelter growled pulling the gun away from Marcel's head so he could face the guard. Jonathan took this opportunity to step between Mr. Pelter and Marcel while he was preoccupied with the guard. The guard gripped his ear and shook his head “I don't know sir, my earpiece just suddenly started screeching” Mr. Pelter narrowed his eyes at the guard before quickly turning to another guard next to them. 

“You there, go get him another...” Mr. Pelter paused his own face contorting in pain as he quickly reached up and pulled out his own earpiece. Jonathan’s did the same but luckily he was already about to take his out after he saw Mr. Pelter's bug out. “What is this...” Mr. Pelter growled to himself as the guard he was talking to pulled out his earpiece. He quickly turned back around with his gun in hand and took a step towards Marcel. 

“I've waited long enough” he hissed “it’s time for him to die” Marcel let out a muffled whimper but Jonathan stood his ground. “Move Delirious,” Mr. Pelter said when he noticed Jonathan was standing in the way. “I said move!” he repeated raising the gun. Jonathan felt his heart rate increase as he starred down the gun's barrel. Mr. Pelter narrowed his eyes “this is your last chance move before I put a bullet in you” “can't we give him a little more time” Jonathan pleaded. “No! I've given him plenty of time now move!” Jonathan felt a spark of anger and he instinctively became to gather bits of power inside himself. 

He wasn't just going to let him kill Marcel without a fight. Jonathan focused his mind and was about to summon a stream of water was a guard frantically ran up the driveway screaming for their attention. Both Jonathan and Mr. Pelter snapped their heads in the direction of the guard as he ran up to them. Jonathan felt the power he'd gather quickly slip away because of his loss of focus. “Sir!” The guard screamed as he ran up huffing and out of breath. “What,” Mr. Pelter asked letting the gun fall to his side. “Sir, there’s a vehicle approaching the gate” “a vehicle?” Mr. Pelter questioned “what type of vehicle?" “a van sir and all communications are out that’s why I had to run up here to tell you.” Mr. Pelter grimaced “What the hell is going on here.” The sounds of gunfire roared followed by a deafening crash, from down the driveway and the guard quickly pulled his rifle off of his shoulder before running back down the driveway to see what was happening. 

Mr. Pelter quickly turned on his heels and began to shout orders to the remaining guards while his own personal bodyguards stayed close and followed him as he quickly retreated into the house. Jonathan looked down at Marcel but his head snapped back up when he the sound of an engine fast approaching. A van riddled with bullets accelerated up the driveway at breakneck speeds, the body of the guard who ran back down was still stuck in the grill of the van and was partly being dragged underneath the van. 

Jonathan’s eyes widened when he saw the gruesome sight. He quickly noticed the van was heading right for him and Marcel and wasn’t showing any signs of stopping “Holy shit!” Jonathan yelled as he grabbed Marcel by the arm and quickly dove out of the way. What the hell was Evan thinking he could have killed Marcel! Jonathan thought as he quickly hauled Marcel and himself away from the van as it screeched to a halt just in front of the manor. 

Jonathan soon realized why the van was so willing to run him and Marcle down as he watched the van's doors quickly swing open. It wasn’t Evan or his other two friends. The sight of brightly colored hair quickly gave away their identities. Mark stepped out of the van first and had a large combat rifle in his hands. He was quickly followed by Jack who had a shotgun and a pistol strapped to his belt. Pewds was the last he also had a rifle in his hands as the three of them quickly took cover behind the van before the remaining guards opened fire on them. 

Jonathan took this opportunity to grab Marcel and drag him back into the manor before the group of three started to fire back. “Watch that door” Jonathan commanded to the confused guards standing inside. Since coms where still down most of the guards inside didn’t fully understand what was happening outside. Jonathan yanked Marcel into the living room by his wristsbonds. 

He pulled out his knife and was about to cut the ropes when he noticed Mr. Pelter standing there shouting orders to the remaining guards in the house. Jonathan quickly resheathed his knife swearing under his breath hoping Mr. Pelter didn't notice. Jonathan again pulled marcel by his arms and towards the secret elevator. "Delirious!" Mr. Pelter called as he walked up to him "I'll handle the hostages you go out there and make sure those lunatics don't ruin our plan to catch Vanoss" he said take Marcel roughly away from Jonathan's grasp. 

"yes sir" Jonathan mumbled as he watched Mr. Pelter step into the elevator dragging Marcel along with him. The doors slowly closed and Jonathan turned away. "Damn it!" He swore that was his chance to grab everyone and go, it was the perfect distraction. The light blub in Jonathan's head suddenly went off as he pieces together what was happening. This was just a distraction. Jonathan ran over to the backyard window and peered out scanning the bushes till his eyes fell on a familiar figure crouch down. Jonathan felt a smile dance across his lips when he saw Evan hiding in the bushes. Just maybe he could pull this off.

Evan could feel his heart thumping against his chest. "Craig what time is it?!" he said into his earpiece "one minute past three" Evan felt his nerves peak and he let out a shaky sigh. "Do you think Mr. Wright managing to get the location to them in time." Craig was silent for a second "all I know is that they are no longer at their base and was last seen heading into the city." 

"yeah but what if they didn't believe him" Evan said as he continued to fly towards the manor as fast as he could. "Look Evan there isn't much more that we can do. We had Mr. Wright leak them the location of the manor I'm sure they made it in time." Evan opened his mouth to respond when the sound of gunfire in the distance caught his attention. Evan beat his wings faster and soon the manor came into view below him. Evan smiled when he saw the familiar van parked in the driveway along with the multi-colored hair trio pushing the main entrance of the house. 

Evan flew towards the backyard before descending and landing on the ground with a soft thump. Evan ducked behind some bushes as his wings vanished. "Craig! It worked!" Evan whispered into the earpiece. "I told you it would," Craig said smiling. "How are things going on your end," Evan asked "we're parked two blocks away," Craig said sitting in the front passenger seat with his laptop propped up on the dashboard. Lui gripped the wheel impatiently ready to step on it the minute they were given the signal. "I've taken out the commutation systems and I am currently trying to shut down their cameras" Evan carefully peeked over the bushes and notice two guards come out the back door with their gun at the ready. 

"Okay I'm going in," Evan said before silently creeping out of the bushes. "Be careful" Craig muttered as he continued to work on the camera system. Evan carefully made his way up to the guards. Every step has to be perfect these guards were on high alert one wrong move and well Evan didn't really want to think of what would happen next. Evan took another step forward closer to the guards he pulled out his pistol. He needed to time this just right, he had to take out the guard on the left as fast as he could then the one on the right before he had time to turn around and shoot him. 

Evan carefully lift his pistol and aimed it at the man's back. He pulled the trigger twice one bullet struck the man in the shoulder and the second hit directly in the back of his head. His body fell to the floor and the man next to him let out a startled scream and fumble with his gun. Evan quickly changed his aim to the last guard and pulled the trigger. The gun made a clicking noise and Evan stared at it in shock. The gun was jammed. The guard recovered from his initial startle and pulled the trigger on his assault rifle. 

Evan dove out of the way and into the bushes as a storm of bullets flew passed. One of the stray bullets managing to graze his shoulder. The guard hauled his firing and shouted for back up. Evan carefully stuck his head out and saw the guard cautiously approaching. Evan could feel his heart began to race faster and faster as he desperately tried to unjam the gun. "Damn it" Evan mumbled unable to fix the gun. Evan gripped the useless gun tightly in his hand as he watched the guard grow closer. "Oh, this better work" Evan whispered to himself. His grip tightened around the gun even more and he used his feeling of panic to gather energy into his hand using it to heat the gun to unimaginable temperatures. 

The gun glowed a fiery orange and Evan popped out of his cover and tossed it as hard as he could at the guard. The man tried to get out of the way but the gun smacked into his jaw. Evan could hear the faint sizzle of the man's flesh being burned away by the gun followed by his horrified screams. Evan raced out of the bushes and threw himself into the guard knocking them both down. Evan batted the gun away from him and with a bit of extra will and power allowed his right fist to ignite into flames. Evan brought his fist down upon the man knocking him out cold and burning the man's face even more. 

Evan heard shouts coming from the other side of the building and quickly scrambled to his feet grabbing his tossed gun and ran towards the back door. Evan shoved it open and stumbled inside just as the front door flew open as well. Mark, Jack, and Pewds ran into the room they all stared at each other for a second before diving for cover. "I told you he was working for them!" Mark growled. "I don't understand! I thought they were enemies!" Jack asked "Then why the hell did they work together to fight us earlier" Mark stated. "I guess the whole being enemies was just a cover," Pewds said in response. 

"Wait no you've got it all wrong!" Evan called out sticking his hands up over the couch he was hiding behind trying to show that he meant no harm. Pewds open fire at Evan who quickly dropped back down behind the couch. "Shit" Evan mumbled he didn't think using them as a distraction would backfire like this. "Come on it's just him, we can take him if we surround him." Pewds commanded stepping out from behind his cover. Evan felt himself tense as Pewds started to get closer and gather bits of power into his hand till he had a bright fireball. 

"Pewds! Look out!" Jack screamed as a single gunshot rang out through the house. The lone bullet tore through the back of Pewd's leg as Jack dove to grab him. Mark turned on his heels and began to fire up at the top of the stairs and Evan swore he saw a something blue duck behind the wall. "Damn it!" Mark swore "I told you! I told you they were working together! Jack get Pewds back to the van so Bob can patch him up, I'll hold them off until you get back." Jack stripped off Pewd's jacket and tied it like a tourniquet around his leg hoping to help stop the bleeding. 

"What!" Jack said "I'm not leaving you here alone," Jack said helping Pewdiepie stand. "I'll be fine," Mark said in reassurances give Jack a toothy grin. Jack didn't look entirely convinced but nodded his head anyway and carefully helped Pewds out of the house. Delirious poked his head out from behind the wall at the top of the stairs and quickly fired down at Mark. The bullets missed and Mark quickly returned the fire. There was a sound of metal striking metal and Delirious's pistol came tumbling down the stairs. 

Delirious swore as the gun fell down the stairs gripping his wounded hand. He quickly hid behind the wall as Mark started to push forward towards the stairs. Evan popped out from behind the couch fireball still burning brightly in his hand and hurled it at Mark. Mark saw the fireball coming and dove up the stairs before the fireball could hit him. Instead, the ball crashed to the floor just below the stairs catch the wooden floor on fire trapping both Mark and Delirious upstairs. 

Evan made a break for the elevator but froze when it wasn't there. "What the hell!" Evan swore and began feeling along the wall trying to find where the elevator was. He frantically began to touch, push and pull in every on the wall searching for a way to open the door. Evan began pushing books off of the shelves but stopped when he noticed something weird on the back panel of the bookshelf. Evan reached forward and pushed it, there was a small clicking sound and the wall slowly opened up revealing the elevator. 

If his friends where anywhere they were down there. Evan quickly stepped in and pushed the button to go down. Evan heard a few more gunshots coming from upstairs as the elevator doors closed and slowly made its way down to the cold dark basement below. The elevator slowly drifted down the shaft and Evan struggled to unjam his gun. He finally managed to unwedge the empty shell from the chamber by prying it out with his knife just as the elevator came to a halt at the bottom. Evan pushes himself tightly against the elevator's wall as he watched the doors open. Mr. Pelter's two private bodyguards were standing there guarding the door. They're heads perked up at the sound of the elevator doors opening and stood attention. They glanced curiously at the empty elevator and one of them slowly started to approach. 

"Boss is that you" he asked and Evan stepped away from the wall revealing himself and fired at the approaching guard. The startled guard stumbled back frantically as the bullets missed him. His partner who had been more alert pushed forward firing his assault rifle into the opening of the elevator. Evan moved to the side hiding behind the buttons on the elevator wall. Luckily the hallway was narrow enough that the guards couldn't get a good angle on him unless they came much closer. Bullet flew passed Evan slamming into the back wall of the elevator, the sound of the bullets striking the metal wall was deafening and sparks flew everywhere. Evan remained crouched waiting for the guard to stop to reload. Evan heard the gun click and popped back out to start shooting back when a bullet whizzed through the air and tore the side of his mask just barely grazing his cheek. Evan fell back in surprise and pulled back behind his cover. 

The startled guard had regained his composure and started to fire just as his partner ran out, had he popped out a second sooner he would have gotten his head blown off for sure. Evan could feel the warmth of the blood as it dripped down his cheek and the constant onslaught of bullets didn’t seem to end. He needed to do something fast or he was toast. Evan quickly began to rummage through his various pockets on his belt searching for anything that could be proven useful. Most of the pockets were empty except for a small flash grenade. 

Evan grimaced at his options “Lui! did you forget to restock my gear!” Evan growled into the earpiece. There was a small moment of silence before a terrified Lui spoke up, “maybe...” Evan could hear Craig let out a frustrated and concerned sigh before addressing Evan “do you have anything in your belt” he asked. “Just a stupid flash grenade” Evan replied peaking his head to see how close the guards where. “I'm completely outgunned here!” Evan yelled trying to make himself as small as possible against the wall to avoid getting shot. 

"Wait did you say a flash grenade," Lui asked. "Yes!" Evan answer starting to panic. "Supercharge it!" Lui shouted into the earpieces. "What!" Evan asked. "Supercharge it!" Lui repeated. "I heard that!" Evan snapped "what does that mean!". Lui took a deep breath before explaining "Look flashbangs exploded just like grenades, the only difference is the explosion is more controlled so it creates a blinding light rather than a fireball of death." Lui explained and Evan started to follow along with Lui's thinking. 

"So if I use my powers to make the explosion bigger it would become unstable and be more like a normal grenade" Evan finished. "Exactly!" Lui said proudly. "Okay," Evan said hesitantly "here goes nothing." Evan gripped the flash grenade and began to focus, gathering energy from his emotions and will. But this time instead of focusing the energy on himself he sent it towards the core of the flash grenade. Evan pumped as much energy as he could into the small device before pulling the pin and chucking it down the hallway sending it hurtling towards the guards. 

The gunfire froze for a second as one of the guards shouted a warning to his partner. "Look away, flash inbound!" Both the guards shielded their eyes but little did they know what they thought was a flash grenade, had enough power packed into it to blow an entire bank vault to smithereens. The grenade land at the feet of guards before detonating with a deadly force. The metal case exploded into tiny pieces of shrapnel and were propelled at breakneck speeds tearing through anything that got in their way. Which for the doomed guards were their bodies.

When Evan poked his head back out all that was left of the guards was clumps of flesh and bloodstains on the floor and walls. Evan felt his stomach churn at the sight and nearly started to heave on the spot. Evan quickly walked by the two trying desperately to shake the image from his mind as he made his way to the door, to his friends. Evan kicked in the door with his pistol in hand ready to shoot anyone that came at him. 

Nogla blinked at the sudden appearance of light. His eyes slowly focused on Evan and a smile spread across his face. "Ain't this a bit of deja vu" Nogla joked as Evan ran up to him. Nogla was tied to a chair much like how Evan was when he came to rescue him. Next to Nogla was Marcel huddled on the floor shaking. Smitty was next him bonded as well but he did his best to stay close and comfort the traumatized Marcel. 

Tyler was just in front of them seemingly trying to shield them from the door. He must have thought Evan had been an enemy and was trying to protect his friends. They all had ropes tried tightly around the wrist and feet though Marcel was the only one to have a blindfold on as well. Evan threw himself into Nogla and hugged him tightly smiling before quickly turning to cut him free. 

"Oh, Nogla! and others!" Evan said turning to his friends trying to contain his excitement from seeing them alive. He really wanted to give them all hugs but that would definitely give away his identity if they hadn't figured it out already. "I'm sorry that this happened! Are any of you hurt?" he asked as he finished cutting Nogla free and started to cut at Tyler's ropes when he notices there where two other people that Evan had not expected to see tied up. 

Luke tugged at his ropes and Evan could see his wrists were raw from his struggles to get free. Next to him was a pale man that Evan didn't quite recognized but he could tell that he looked sick. Beneath the man was a small pool of a dark liquid that Evan could only assume was blood. Evan finished cutting Tyler lose and handed him the knife "finish cutting the others free, Nogla follow me" Evan commanded running over to Luke and the injured man. 

"What happened," Evan asked as he and Nogla crouched down beside them. "That bastard Pelter!" Luke swore "he shot him as an example" Nogla examined the wound moving his leg back and forth carefully. "This is bad," Nogla said panic filling his voice. "It's definitely infected, Evan we need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible" Evan cringe when he saw all his friends snap their heads in their direction and Nogla whispered a quick apology once he had realized what he had done. 

"Don't worry about it, we'll deal with it later" Evan said thinking of a plan, he pulled out his pistol and handed it over to Nogla. "I'm going to go ahead and clear a path for you guys, you make sure to get everyone out of here okay?" "What do we do once we get out of the manor," Nogla asked as he and Luke carefully helped Ryan to his feet. 

"Lui and Craig are waiting for us not to far away, I'll signal them now" Evan ran out the door and toward the elevator. He pushed the button and began waiting for the elevator to arrive. His friends followed him down the hallway and they all stared in horror at the two mangled corpses of the guards lying on the ground. The elevator arrive and Evan stepped in first "Okay so I'll head up and make sure no one is standing there ready to shoot us then I'll send it back down for you" he pushed the button and watched his friends give worried and scared expressions before the doors slowly closed shutting him off from the others. 

Evan let out a deep sigh and tugged off his mask and quickly wiped away the blood and sweat on his face. He carefully put it back on making sure not to rip the mask more. At least his friends were okay, relatively speaking. The elevator started to slow and Evan pulled a mini low power pistol from his boot before stepping to the side so that he was covered by the elevator wall just in case someone was waiting for him with a gun pointed at the door. The doors opened up and Evan was greeted to the same living room as before only this time it was on fire. "Oh shit!" Evan said in a panic. 

The flames from the fireball he had thrown earlier had spread throughout the room turning it into a blazing inferno. A bullet whirled passed Evan and he quickly shot back at the guard standing across the room striking him in the shoulder. Evan stepped out of the elevator and slammed his hand down on the button to send it back down. He didn't have time to wait and make sure everything was clear, he needed to get them out of here now before the fire got any worse. Evan dove behind a singed couch as more guards replaced the one he shot. Evan continued to fire at them critical wounding at least two before he heard the ding of the elevator. 

He saw Nogla's eyes widened at the sight of the burning room while the rest of his friends grew an expression of panic. "Keep your heads down and find cover fast!" Evan shouted as they all scrambled out of the elevator. Nogla ran up to Evan and crouched down beside him with the pistol drawn. 

"I thought you said you were going to clear a path" Nogla shouted over the roar of flames and gunfire. "I didn't have any time this place is going to collapse any minute" Evan said. He quickly popped up from behind the couch and fired at one of the guards hitting him in the head. "There's two more to the right" Evan called out. Nogla nodded and crawled over the right side of the couch and leaned out, he fired at the two guards who frantically dove for cover as Nogla's bullets ripped into them killing them instantly. 

"Got'em," Nogla said popping the clip out and slipping in a new one as Evan handed him an extra. "This is our chance," Evan said hopping over the couch and making his way towards the front door while trying to avoid the raging flames. Tyler let out a cough as the smoke grew thicker. Evan was about to open the door when he heard gunshots coming from upstairs and a scream of pain. "Jonathan," Evan said and started running towards the stairs. 

"Evan wait!" Nogla called grabbing him by the arm "there's something you should know Evan..." Evan pulled his arm away from Nogla "tell me later, I've got to get up there!" He said turning to the stairs again. Nogla grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around forcefully "Evan this is serious Jonathan" there was a cry of pain from behind them and Ryan fell to the floor as Luke stumbled struggling to carry him by himself. Nogla rushed over to help the pair and carefully lifted Ryan back to his feet and threw his arm over his shoulder for support. "Get them out of here and to the van, I'll be back in a few minutes," Evan said to Nogla and rushed to the stairs. "Evan wait!" Nogla yelled again but Evan didn't stop " damn it!" Nogla swore, "Come on" he commanded and started helping Ryan and the group towards the front door. 

Luke held Ryan by his other arm helping take most of the pressure off of his injured leg. He looked over at Nogla who had a distressed look on his face. "don't worry" he said softly with a sad smile on his face. Nogla Iooked over at him curiously, "he won't hurt Evan" Nogla gave Luke a skeptical looked but said nothing. Evan raced towards the stairs but screeched to a halt. The bottom stairs were consumed in flames and the heat was unbearable. Gunshots rang out from overhead and Evan started to feel desperate. He gritted his teeth and ran forward threw the flames. The flames for Evan wasn’t the problem it was the floor underneath it. The wooden stairs had grown brittle and they threatened to give with every step. The wood groaned and when Evan places his foot down on the second to last step it let out a loud crack and Evan’s foot fell between the boards. 

The jagged edges of the wood tore into his flesh as his foot fell down the hole and Evan fell forward from the sudden drop and slammed again the floor. Evan groaned and carefully started to pull his foot back up. The wood pressed deeper into his skin and Evan had to bite down onto his tongue to keep from screaming. With one last yank, Evan was able to free his foot and limped up the last stair his ankle already starting to turn a deep purple and blue. 

Evan carefully applied more of his weight down on his foot and even though it screamed in protest he was able to mostly walk on it. Evan limped as fast as he could down the hallway to where he heard the gunshots. He pushed open the door and saw Mark and Jack standing in an office with their guns aimed at a knocked over desk. They both spun around when they heard the door open and opened fire. 

Evan ducked back out the door as bullets ripped through the wall next to him. “I'll go after him you stay here and watch him” Mark yelled as he ran out of the room. Evan ran into the room across the hall, he could see the fire spreading up to the top of the stairs and smoke started to fill the room as he slammed the door shut. Mark stepped out into the hallway and made his way towards the door Evan ran into. Evan panted as he frantically tried to barricade the door with whatever he could. Smoke continued to flood the room and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. 

Evan clawed at his mask desperately before finally tearing it off allowing him to breathe a little easier through the smoke was still a problem. Evan spotted a window on the far wall and threw it open hoping to clear the air more. There was a large bang at the door and the little nightstand that Evan used to barricade the door fell over. "Shit" Evan mumbled all he had was a tiny pistol Mark had a fricken assault rifle. There was another loud bang and the door rattled back and forth. Evan glanced around for anything to use but the bedroom was mostly empty. The only chance he had was to disarm Mark, but there wasn't really any good way to do that. He needed to get him off balance somehow. There was another loud bang and Evan heard one of the nails in the hinges fall out. 

Evan ran over to the door and counted there was another bang and another nail fell out. "Oh, this better work" Evan prayed as he put his hand on the doorknob. He waited and counted in his head before yanking the door open staying behind it. Mark who was about to kick the door stumbled forward into the room. Evan rushed him and slammed into him with all his weight. They both fell to the floor and Evan did his best to kick the gun away. Mark managed to push Evan off of him and tried reaching for his gun. Evan grabbed his foot and pulled him back as hard as he could. Mark growled at him and kicked at Evan with his free foot. 

Evan's grip loosened and Mark started crawling for the gun again. Evan quickly focused on his hand and formed a small unstable fireball. He hastily tossed it between Mark and his gun lighting the ground ablaze. Mark yanked his hand back to avoid being burned and glared at Evan who had his pistol pointed at him. Evan carefully stood back up making sure to keep the gun on Mark at all times. Mark slowly stood up as well keeping his hands up in front of him. 

They stared at each other for a second before Mark glance behind Evan and smiled. Evan panicked and quickly turned around but saw nothing but the window. By the time Evan realized he was duped Mark had slammed into the back of him shoving him forward towards the open window. Evan managed to grab onto the sides to keep him from falling out but he dropped his gun in the process. Evan watched the gun tumble to the floor as Mark continued to push harder. He kicked at the back of Evan's legs trying to take out his knees so, Evan let him. 

Evan reached back and grabbed Mark by the shirt just as he kicked the back of his knee sending them both over the edge. Evan quickly let go of Mark and with a small effort of will summoned his wings. Evan flapped them hard and shoot back up to the window while Mark kept falling. He landed on the ground with a thud and didn't move. Evan floated back down to Mark and pressed his fingers against his neck. Evan could feel a light pulse and could see his chest moving up and down before flying off back into the window. 

Evan stepped back inside and let his wings vanish before walking over to Mark's gun. He carefully leaned over to pick it up avoiding the boards that were still on fire. The gun was hot from the heat of the fire but it didn't bother him as he gripped it in his hand and checked the clip. He had at least 8 more shots and he clipped it back in before walking back over to where Jack was. 

Jonathan clenched his arm and blood oozed from where he had been shot by Mark before he had managed to flip the desk over to take cover. Jack carefully kept his distance waiting for Mark to return so they could finish him off. Jonathan shuffled over to the side of the desk and shot at Jack. The bullets missed and Jonathan cursed as Jack shot back and the wooden corner of the desk exploded into splinters right by his face. Jonathan shuffled back over to the center of the desk. 

He was so screwed, his eyes burned from the smoke and his dominant hand laid limply by his side. He sucked a shooting with his left but his right arm hurt too much to move. Jonathan could hear footsteps approaching the room followed by the click of a round being loaded into the assault rifle. Jonathan had expected to hear Mark but instead, he heard Jack's frightened voice. 

"Where's Mark?" He asked, but Jonathan didn't bother to look up thinking it was probably a trick and Mark was standing right there trying to give him a false glimmer of hope. "What the hell did you do to him!" Jack screamed and Jonathan started to doubt his suspicions. Either Jack was a really good actor or it really wasn't Mark. Jonathan warily poked his head out over the desk and felt his heart flutter when he saw Evan standing there with Mark's gun pointed at Jack. His face was blacked with dirt and soot from the smoke and he had a large cut running across his left cheek. He limped slightly when he took a step forward towards Jack "He took a tumble out a window." Evan said with a smile that looked almost sinister. "He still alive, though I don't know for how much longer he might have hit his head," 

"you bastard!" Jack screamed and raised his gun to shoot Evan. Evan pulled the trigger before Jack could fully raise his gun. A bullet struck him in the hand and the rifle clattered against the ground. "I'm giving you one chance jack, leave," Evan said moving the gun to point at Jack's head. "Wh..what?" Jack stuttered "Leave. Take Mark and go right now" Evan repeated. "But why let me go?" Jack questioned. "I own you one," Evan said and Jack gave him a confused look. Evan let out a sigh "look if you hadn't shown up when you did my friends would be dead right so I'm letting you go and calling it even. Do you got that!" Evan quickly explained Jack nodded and quickly rushed out the door leaving Vanoss and Delirious alone. 

Jonathan carefully stood up from behind the couch and noticed a disappointed look cross Evan's face when he saw him. Jonathan quickly looked away "thanks fo..." his gratitude was cut short when Evan slammed his fist into the side of his mask. Jonathan stumbled back gripping the side of his face as the floor boards creaked below him. "Ouch!" Jonathan yelled glaring at Evan who stomped over to him. Evan swung his foot into Delirious side knocking him down to the ground. Jonathan coughed as the air was knocked out of him. He desperately tried to catch his breath but he got more smoke than air into his lungs. 

Evan grabbed Delirious by his hoodie and pulled him up so that they where practically face to face "where the hell is Jonathan!" Evan growled. Evan saw Delirious eyes widened beneath his mask before he slowly started to chuckle. Soon it became full-blown crazed laughter. Evan let go of him and let him fall back to the floor "you don't know do you" Evan mumbled staring down at Delirious. 

Delirious got back to his feet still chuckling "are you serious?" he said looking up at Evan. Evan scowled at him "do you or do you not know where Jonathan is!" Evan growled his hand igniting it to flames as he took a step closer towards Delirious. Jonathan took a step back out of fear "of course I know where he is" Delirious snapped back still slowly stepping back, the floorboards creaked louder with each step Jonathan took. "He's" Delirious started to say as he took one more step back and the floor gave underneath him. Delirious let out a yelp as he fell and managed to grab onto the edge before falling all the way down to the completely ingulfed living room. 

Jonathan felt his heart race as he stared down at the fiery inferno below. He looked back up and saw Evan standing over him with his arms crossed. He slowly stepped down onto Delirious's hand crushing his fingers beneath his weight. Delirious let out a cry of pain still clutching onto the side for dear life. "Tell me where Jonathan is now!" Evan demanded leaning harder on Delirious hand. "God damn it, Evan! How thick-headed are you! " he screamed and lifted his right arm even though it burned like hell and tore off his mask letting it fall into the flames below. "It’s me Jonathan!" he yelled up at Evan. Evan glared down at him before all the anger in his eyes flashed away and was replaced with shock and guilt. "Holy shit!" Evan said in surprise and quickly dropped to his knees to help pull him up. 

Evan reached down and grabbed Jonathan by the sleeve and started to pull him up. He pulled Jonathan up enough so that he could see over the floor and behind Evan. "Evan! Behind you!" Jonathan screamed as a gun went off. Jonathan felt Evan's grip loosen around his sleeve and Jonathan started to slip back down the hole. "Evan move!" Jonathan called but Evan didn't move he couldn't move it hurt too much. 

A foot slammed into the side of his head and crumpled to the ground. He could faintly hear Jonathan screaming his name and his vision blurred when he noticed a figure step over him. Evan's vision slowly adjusted and he saw Mr. Pelter standing over him with a gun in his hand. He had a larger gash along his arm tearing his nice suit and Evan could see the burnt flesh beneath it. "You really are a pain in my ass, you know that!" Mr. Pelter growled slowly raising the gun to point at Evan's face "and I'm so glad to finally be rid of you" "No!" Jonathan screamed as he watched him pull back the hammer on the revolver. 

Jonathan frantically tried to pull himself up but he didn't have the strength. He instead lifted his right hand out gritting his teeth in pain and focused. The air was extremely dry due to the fire but the was barely enough moister left to create a small stream of water the twirled around his hand. Jonathan pushed his hand forwards and the water shot out and wrapped around Mr. Pelter's neck like a snake. 

Jonathan yanked his hand back and the water followed jerking Mr. Pelter back causing him to stumble. Evan hooked his feet underneath his legs and pushed. Mr. Pelter lost his balance and fell backward and into the hole, Jonathan was hanging from. He managed to grab on to the edges just before he fell all the way down and started to pull himself up. There was an ugly crack and the board Mr. Pelter was hanging from snapped cause him to plummet to the ground below. Jonathan tried to reach him but it was too late. He screamed in agony as the flames started to consume his flesh and Jonathan stared down in horror as the man that raised him burned away to bone. Jonathan may not have liked him but that was one hell of a way to go. 

He forced himself to look away and tried to pull himself up when the board suddenly jerked down being him closer to the fire. Jonathan let out a panicked scream and frantically tried to reach for another board but he couldn't feel his right arm anymore. The board snapped and Jonathan felt himself start to fall. He closed his eye and waited for the excruciating pain of being burned alive. 

His right arm jerked up and the sudden and intense pain caused his eyes to fly open. He let out a painful cry and looked up to see Evan leaning over the edge holding onto his hand. Evan slowly started to pull Jonathan up and back onto the floor dragging him away from the other weak boards surrounding the perimeter of the hole. Evan collapsed to the floor in pain gripping his abdomen as blood gushed out. "Evan!" Jonathan yelled as he quickly crawled over to him. Evan weakly smiled at him and laugh though it was more of a cough really. "Guess I really screwed up huh." 

"No, no, no, you did fine," Jonathan said trying to comfort Evan but his voice was filled with panic as he looked over his wound. “Sorry about punching you in the face” Evan whispered. “it’s fine Evan you didn’t know it was me.” Jonathan said putting pressure on Evan’s wounds but the blood kept seeping through. “but I should have known, I should have known something was wrong.” 

“No no you shouldn’t have I didn’t tell you and I did my best to keep you from knowing,” Jonathan said pushing harder. Evan grunted in pain and Jonathan apologized. “I can’t stop the bleeding” Jonathan said panicking “we’ve got to get you out of here.” Jonathan picked Evan up and threw his arm over his shoulder. They carefully made their way towards the stairs and Jonathan froze when he noticed they were completely consumed in fire. Jonathan swore and drug Evan into his room and shut the door. He pulled the covers off of his bed and shoved them underneath the door to help stop the smoke from entering the room.

He rushed over to the window and threw it open. He looked down at the drop below. He could jump it if he wanted to, maybe break an ankle but that would be it. Evan, on the other hand, he was in such bad shape a fall like that might kill him. Jonathan glanced down at his useless hand. They could try and climb down, but could he do it with just one hand. Jonathan stuck his head out the window and saw the drain pipe leading down to the floor. Jonathan went back in and walked over to Evan who was lying on the bed panting heavily trying to keep pressure on his wound. 

“Come on we are getting out of here,” Jonathan said as he started to pull Evan to his feet. Evan grabbed something off the bed and stuffed into one of his belt pockets as Jonathan pulled him up. Jonathan crouched down a bit and leaned forward so that Evan rested on his back. He picked up Evan and made sure he was holding on tight before making his way towards the door. Evan shifted a bit and tugged at Jonathan to stop. 

“No Jonathan you can’t climb down with one arm and me on your back,” Evan said weakly. “Just leave me here and go” “Like hell I’m leaving you here!” Jonathan growled as he carefully stepped out the window. He swung his leg out and he could feel Evan’s grip tighten around him. Jonathan reached over and grabbed the drain with his hand. He took a deep breath and pushed off of the wall and pulled himself towards the pole. They slammed into it and Jonathan wrapped his legs around it. He gripped onto the pole as hard as he could to keep from falling off. The drain swayed a bit from the impact and it slowly straightened again. Jonathan let out a sigh of relief and they slowly started to slid down the pole. The pipe creaked and started leaning more and more to the left before there was a loud snap. 

“No! No! No!” Jonathan said in a panic as the pipe felt to the side throwing them into the ground. They landed into the bushes that lined the front of the house breaking their fall a bit. Jonathan shook his heads and slowly got to his feet. He quickly made his way towards Evan who was lying on the floor with a small pool of blood beneath him. Jonathan could see Evan’s chest moving up and down rapidly and felt relieved that he was still alive. He picked Evan back up and his eyes fluttered open as they made their way to the front gate. 

“Jacket” Evan wheezed “What?” Jonathan asked as he pulled him along. “take off the jacket, they’ll know if they see it” Jonathan clenched his teeth “Do you really think I give two shits about that right now Evan” Jonathan growled. “Now shut up and keep your self alive." They reached the bottom of the driveway and Jonathan smiled when he saw a familiar van. Next to it was Nogla who had just finished bandaging up Ryan's leg and was helping Luke get him into the van. “Nogla!” Jonathan shouted and started dragging Evan faster towards them. The tall Irish man looked over to them and felt his jaw drop when he saw Evan hanging limply by Jonathan’s side. “Oh my god! Lui!” Nogla called and stared running towards Evan and Jonathan. 

Lui ran after him with his gun locked and loaded. Jonathan carefully set Evan down and Nogla pushed him out of the way so that he wasn’t close to Evan. Lui aimed his gun at Jonathan who froze and raised his hands high in front of himself. “What the hell did you do to him!” Lui growled at him. “Jonathan!” Luke called and ran up to him. Jonathan felt tears swell up in his eye as Luke ran towards him but Lui stepped between him and stuck out his arm to stop Luke from getting closer. “Stay away from him he’s Delirious,” Lui said but Luke just push past him “I know that,” He said a pulled Jonathan in for a hug and quickly look over him. “Are you okay? are you hurt anywhere?” Luke asked and Jonathan nodded placing his hands on Luke's shoulders. “I’m fine” 

“Luke get away from him!” Lui yelled but Luke stepped between him and Jonathan. “Like hell, I’m moving, you’ll shoot him.” Evan stirred at the commotion and from Nogla working on his wounds. He peeled his eyes open and saw Luke yelling at Lui with a gun aimed right at Jonathan who was standing behind Luke. Evan started to sit up even though his side cried in distress. “Evan, lay back down,” Nogla said softly tying to push Evan back down. Evan pushed Nogla’s hand away and stood up. 

“Yes, I am going to shoot him now move!” Lui screamed and Luke looked like he was going to sock him in the face. Evan stumbled between the two and Lui looked at him in shock. “Evan what are you doing lay back down so Nogla can look at your wounds." “No… No…” Evan said as he swayed on his feet. “Lui, put the gun down,” he said trying to take a step forward but he lost his balance and ended up stumbling backward. Jonathan ran forward and steady him, helped him stand back up straight. Evan’s face was growing paler by the minute and he struggled to stay on his feet even with Jonathan's support. “He’s…” Evan struggled to say “he’s my… my friend... I trust him” Evan croaked out before going limp in Jonathan's arms. Jonathan’s eyes widened at Evan’s limp and pale body. “Evan. Evan!” Jonathan yelled shaking him back and forward. 

He looked up at Nogla and Lui in a panic. “Is he…Is he.” Jonathan tried to ask but his throat wouldn’t let him speak. Nogla quickly crouched down beside him and pressed his figures against Evan’s neck. “No, not yet but we need to get him home fast!" Nogla said crouching down to pick Evan up. Jonathan helped Nogla carry Evan back to the van. They anxiously loaded Evan in and Nogla got into the back with him. Jonathan was about to step in when Lui raised his gun again. 

“Not you.” Lui stated and Jonathan froze. He glanced over at Evan who was lying in the back of the van, he felt tears drip down his face and Lui looked at him in surprise. “Please…” Jonathan said softly. “Please let me go with him, I’ll leave as soon as I know he’s okay.” Lui slightly lowered the gun but raised it again. “Lui, we don't have time for this!” Nogla called. “Let him come” Lui looked back at Nogla then at Jonathan who was frantically trying to wipe away tears. Lui hesitated a minute before finally lowering his gun “Fine” Lui replied and stomped off towards the driver seat of the van. 

Jonathan hopped into the back of the van and slammed the doors shut behind him. He sat down next to Evan and watched Nogla work on stabilizing him and helped where ever he could. “Okay, that’s all we can do till we get back to the base,” Nogla said wiping the sweat off of his forehead leaning back against the van's wall. Jonathan pulled away from Evan and went to sit down when he was suddenly stopped. Evan’s hand was tightly clutching his sleeve and Jonathan just stared at it. Jonathan careful removed Evan’s fingers from his sleeve and wrapped them around his own hand and held on to them tightly before pulling his knees to his chest and burying his head between them still holding onto Evan’s hand. Nogla stared at the two, and his glare slightly softened before slowly turning into a small smile. 

Evan’s eyes felt like they were stapled shut and he struggled to open them even the slightest. Evan tried to move his arms but they wouldn’t budge either. Everything ached especially his side. Evan tried to open his eyes again and was greeted to a bright white light that hurt to look at. Evan blinked rapidly till his eyes were finally able to adjust to the light. He was laying on a soft bed and medical equipment stood all around him. Evan looked to his right and expected to see a bland wall with a window that overlooked a parking lot like most typical hospital but instead he was greeted by a wall of glass. On the other side was the training equipment that he often practiced with. Evan smiled at the familiar sight and let his head roll to the left. Evan felt his smile drop when he saw Jonathan sleeping in a chair next to him. 

His right arm was in a sling and his cheek was a deep purple and blue. Evan looked away and stared back up at the ceiling. Jonathan really was Delirious, but why... why would he do such a thing. Was it all a lie, was Jonathan really the Jonathan he knew or was it all just an act a cover-up for the horrible twisted thing he really was. Evan glanced back over to Jonathan who was still sleeping peacefully on the chair next to him. Evan continued to study him before judging that it was best for him to get up. 

Evan tried to sit up but his left hand was stuck. He tugged a little harder and noticed Jonathan's body move a bit. Evan's eyes traced his arm until he noticed it disappeared underneath Jonathan. Evan could feel Jonathan's fingers gripping softly around his. Evan eyed the sleeping Jonathan, a small smile spread across his face and all his doubts washed away. There was no way it was a lie, this Jonathan was the same one he's known all along. Evan let his fingers curl tightly around Jonathan's and he let his head fall back against the pillow. He was about to shut his eyes when he noticed Jonathan stir. Evan looked over at him just as Jonathan's eyes slowly blinked open. 

Jonathan just looked at Evan who softly smiled at him in a daze trying to blink away the drowsiness. Jonathan smiled back but it quickly dropped and was replaced by a look of shock. Jonathan shot up from the chair like a bullet and threw himself into Evan hugging him as tightly as he could. "Oh my God! you're all right," he said. Evan's smile grew a little more and he hugged him back. "I'm alright," he said comforting Jonathan. 

He had hoped to stay that way for a little bit longer but Jonathan quickly pulled away. Evan watched as he curled up into a little ball on the chair and started to cry. He kept repeating the words I'm sorry through his tears. Evan tried sooth him and told him everything was fine. "No! it's not fine" Jonathan snapped. "I've done such horrible things, I've killed people, I've tried to kill you!" Jonathan sobbed. "but that wasn't you," Evan said "It was Mr. Pelter pulling your strings" 

"How do you know that!" Jonathan blurted standing from his chair. "how do you know that's not the real me. There were times Evan, where I enjoyed it! I enjoyed hunting down whoever I was told to and watching them beg for the lives before I killed them!" Jonathan yelled. "How could somebody who isn't a monster think like that!" Evan was silent he didn't know what the best way was to respond to that. 

Jonathan looked away from Evan in shame, "That's what I thought" he said in defeat taking a step back from Evan. "I think it's best if I just go" He turned and started to walk out of the room. "What No! Jonathan wait!" Evan called throwing the blanks off of himself. Evan took a step forward and his bad foot gave out underneath him causing him to fall. He managed to grab Jonathan's sleeve just as he stepped out of the doorway. 

Evan groaned as he hit the floor his abdomen flaring in pain. Jonathan quickly rushed to Evan's side and helped him stand back up and guided him back to bed. "Damn it Evan don't do that you're going to hurt yourse..." Jonathan was cut off by Evan seizing the collar of his jacket and pulling him forward. Their lips crashed together and Jonathan instantly melted into the kiss. Evan let go of Jonathan's jacket and his hand traveled up Jonathan's neck to the back of his head. Evan ruffled Jonathan's hair as the kiss got deeper until they were finally forced to pull away when they needed air. 

Jonathan looked into Evan's eyes still in a bit of shock from the kiss. Evan grabbed Jonathan's hand and squeezed it. "I know that's not you because I love you," Evan said softly. "But," Jonathan started but Evan shushed him. "We all have those types of thoughts, We all have that one side of us that we wish we could lock away, but that doesn't mean you are that side," Evan said smiling. "You're a good person Jonathan, you'll do anything for the people you care about even kill, just like me." Jonathan looked away from Evan and started to sob. 

Evan pulled Jonathan in for a hug and he started to weep into Evan's shoulder. Evan pulled him down so that they were lying next to each other as Jonathan continued to cry. "Shhh... Everything will be alright" Evan soothed twirling Jonathan's brown hair in his fingers. "you're not a monster" Evan whispered as Jonathan tried to control his tears. "But what if you're wrong," Jonathan said huddling closer to Evan like a scared child. " Evan hugged him tighter "Then you'll be my little monster" Evan whispered. They stayed this way for the next few minutes and when Nogla walked in an hour later to see how Evan was doing. He was greeted with the pleasant sight of both Evan and Jonathan curled up next to each other sleeping. Jonathan had his head buried into Evan's chest, while Evan had his arm wrapped protectively over top of him. 

Nogla smiled at the two and quickly snapped a photo of them with his phone, before quietly stepping out of the room closing the door behind him leaving the two alone.  
The End

A/N For all of you that are curious yes this is the good ending I just couldn’t bring my self to write a bad ending for them. But if you wanted to know how it would have went. Lui and everyone else (Except for Luke) wouldn’t have let Jonathan in the van basically calling him a monster and that he’s lucky they don’t shoot him right then and there. Jonathan leaves and eventually accepts his darker side and basically becomes a new mob boss and disappearing. By the time Evan finds him again (which is years later) he’s a stone cold killer that doesn’t care about anything anymore. Evan and him fight. Evan ends up fatally wounding Jonathan, and in his dying moments he confesses his past feelings for Evan and apologizes for being a monster before dying…. So yeah that’s probably how I would have had it happen, but I definitely like the good ending better.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N Hello again!! I’m sorry about the long wait I had this whole chapter done but my computer broke and it had to retype it all. Anyways this story has reached its end and I really hope you’ve enjoyed it. Sorry about any spelling or grammar errors I missed and if the formatting it weird I’m posting this off of my phone so hopefully it posts correctly. Anyways good bye!

Evan sat quietly with a book in his hand, his legs stretched out across the couch. He casually flipped through the pages completely absorbed in the story. Footsteps from down the hall caught his attention and Evan looked up to see a tired Jonathan walk into the living room.

He was still wearing his pajamas and his brown hair was a mess. Evan went back to reading his book as Jonathan walked by rubbing his eyes. He walked up to the front door and bent down to grab the mail that was sitting on the floor. Evan watched Jonathan walk back towards the couch and he moved his feet to the floor so Jonathan could sit next to him. 

“Good morning” Jonathan yawned as he sat down on the couch. Evan lifted his legs and laid them across Jonathan's lap as a greeting. Jonathan shot Evan a look and he just smiled mischievously behind his book. “ so what’s the mail say today” Evan asked laying his book down on his chest as he watched Jonathan flipped through the mail. “nothing but bills” Jonathan said flipping through the stack of envelopes. Jonathan was reaching the end of the stack when something caught his eye. 

“this is weird” Jonathan said looking at Evan “it’s a legal notice” Jonathan flipped the envelope over and tore it open. He pulled out the letter and began to read it out loud for Evan to hear. “Dear Mr. Fong we regret to inform you that you have yet to pay your parking ticket that was issued to your registered vehicle on the day of April 21.” Evan shot off of the couch and snatched the letter from Jonathan. 

“Oh my God! I completely forgot about this” Evan groaned. Jonathan glared Evan at for snatching the paper and asked “when did you get a ticket?” “It was the first time I meet Mark and Jack at the coffee shop,” Evan said and continued reading the letter. “It has now been over a year since said ticket has been issued and we have sent you numerous notices reminding you of your overdue ticket. If you don’t pay the fine of 1,822 dollars by the end of the month of May we will be impounding your vehicle. Have a nice day.” Evan let himself fall back onto the couch in defeat and let out a long sigh. 

Jonathan snuggled closer to Evan and pecked him on the cheek “I’m sure everything will be fine” he said as he saw a small smile appear on Evan's face. “Do you think Craig can fix it for you” Jonathan suggested. “yeah I should probably ask him?” Evan said as he gently pushed Jonathan off of him so he could stand up. Evan stretched and turned back to Jonathan who was watching him, “We’ve should head over there now anyways” Evan said. 

Jonathan shifted uncomfortably in his seat “Do I have to go” Jonathan whined setting aside the mail. Evan gave him a sympathetic look “I know you and Lui still aren’t getting along but you promised Nogla you’d participate in his little experiment.” Jonathan slummed against the couch “I know, I know.” He huffed “But I just don’t understand it I actually thought we were getting along pretty well a couple of weeks ago, so what happened” 

“Lui can just be like that some times, he gets especially irritable if something in the workshop isn’t working out the way he hopes” Evan explained. “What do you mean by that” Jonathan asked standing up and making his way back into his bedroom so he could get ready to go. “Well,” Evan yelled so Jonathan could hear “there was this one time” Evan chuckled a bit at the memory before continuing “this is around the time I first meet Lui and we were still at the orphanage” Evan explained. 

“For each kid’s birthday they were given one present and when it was Lui’s birthday he was given a clock.” Evan said as he watched Jonathan walk out of his room dressed in jeans and his normal blue hoody clearly intrigued by the story. “it was a pretty crappy clock that had a plastic monkey on it and they probably got from a dollar store or something but Lui loved it so that’s all that matter.”

“ What does a clock have to do with why Lui hates me,” Jonathan said and Evan shot him a look that said don’t interrupt. “Anyways a few weeks later Nogla and I were eating lunch outside when Lui can running up to us with tears in his eyes and a very sorry looking Craig in tow.” Lui ran towards Evan and Nogla who were sitting on a bench eating their lunches. Nogla noticed Lui first and stood up, even when they were younger Nogla was still the tallest of the four.

“Lui what’s wrong,” Nogla said his voice was filled with concern. Lui crashed into Nogla hugging him tightly burying his face into his shirt. Evan looked over at Craig who finally caught up to them. “Craig? What happened?” Evan asked putting down his sandwich. Craig took a breath and opened his mouth to answer when Lui broke away from Nogla and turned to Evan. “He broke my clock!” Lui bawled. “It was an accident.” Craig said tears starting to swell in his own eyes. “No, it wasn’t!” Lui stated and the two started to bicker back and forward. 

Nogla stood there looking at his tear soak shirt in disgust and looked over at Evan for some kind of help. Evan sighed stood up and walked between the two and pushed them apart. “All right that enough!” he yelled. Lui tried to wipe away stray tears while Craig just crossed his arms. Evan turned to face Lui “I’m sure Craig didn’t mean to break it,” He said. “He did! He’s always talking about how annoying it is!” Lui said glaring at Craig over Evan’s shoulders. “I already told you it was an accident.” Craig repeated. Lui went to open his mouth to yell at Craig more when Nogla stepped in. “how badly broken is it?” He asked standing next to Evan to put more space between the two. 

“I’ll show you” Lui huffed and stomped back toward the building. Nogla sighed and the three of them followed Lui back to his room. Lui walked up to a desk where the broken clock was laying. Its display had popped off and you could see the wires and lights inside. The battery compartment had fallen out of its holder and the batteries laid scattered over the table. “it doesn’t look that bad” Evan said picking up the clock to examine it only to have it snatched out of his hands by Lui. Evan stood there a bit confused and crossed his arms. He then said the words that started Lui's passion for building things. “Why don’t you just fix it”. Lui gave him a confused look “Fix it?” he asked tilting his head. 

“Yeah!” Evan said. “Put it back together,” Lui stood there for a second staring at the broken clock. He picked it up and tried reattaching the wire to the display. Everyone watched as Lui put the display down and picked up the batteries. He went to put them back in their place when he froze and slammed them down on the table. Everyone jumped and Lui spun around and glared at them. “I can’t focus with all you breathing down my neck!” Lui yelled standing up. He pushed then towards and out the door before slamming it. 

They stared at the locked door “Did I just get locked out of my own room” Evan said looking at Nogla and Craig who just shrugged. They all left and went back outside where they finished eating lunch. Time went on and they still hadn’t seen Lui. Evan had walked by their room multiple times throughout the day and noted it was still locked. It wasn’t until dinner rolled around that they started to get worried. “Is he still in there?” Nogla asked as he sat down next to Evan in the noisy cafeteria with a tray in his hands. 

“Yeah…” Craig answered picking at his food. They sat in silence when Nogla suddenly perked up, “Lui!” He called waving him over. Craig and Evan looked in the direction Nogla was waving in and saw Lui darting into the cafeteria grabbed a piece of bread and make a break for the door again. “Lui!” Nogla called louder causing him to stop in his track. Lui glared harshly at them before continuing out the door. Nogla slowly sat back down with a hurt expression on his face. 

“was it something I said?” both Craig and Evan gave Nogla a sympathetic look and they continued to eat even though they didn’t feel very hungry anymore. About an hour later one of the caretakers came in and told everyone it was time to go to bed and that lights had to be out by 8. Evan waved goodbye to Nogla and Craig as they headed off to their own room in a separate hallway. He walked towards the door to his room. Evan twisted the handle but was surprised to find it still locked. 

“Lui!” Evan called knocking on the door “could you let me in!” Evan waited in front of the door but got no response so he knocked again. “Lui!” “Go away,” Lui said his voice muffled by the door, “I’m busy”. Evan looked at the door a bit confused “but it’s bedtime” Evan said now starting to get a bit nervous that a caretaker would walk by and see that wasn’t in his room yet. “soo” Lui replied. 

“Lui we share that room, my bed is in there with you.” There was silence for a bit before Lui responded again. “I don’t care, you're just going to have to find somewhere else to sleep tonight.” “What!” Evan said in surprise. He could hear voices coming from down the hallway and he started to feel a bit panicked. He started banging his fist against the door. “Lui let me in now before someone sees me still up” there was no response. “Lui!” Evan called louder and went to pound on the door again when a loud and startling voice echoed in the hallway. 

“who’s making all that racket and not in bed yet!” Evan jumped and spun around. He could see shadows on the wall from where the voice came from. They hadn’t seen him yet. Evan turned and bolted down the hallway towards Nogla and Craig's room. They were surprised to see him but even more surprised to hear that Lui wouldn’t open the door. Nogla went to the closet and grabbed an extra pillow and Craig gave him a thin pair of sheets to use as a blanket. Evan ended up having to sleep on the floor between Nogla and Craig. 

The wooden floor was hard and cold, the thin fabric of the sheets did little to capture heat and keep him warm. Evan laid there shivering before his eyes finial managed to slide shut. Evan woke up to Craig shaking his shoulders. Evan yawned and sat up rubbing his eyes, that’s when he noticed the room was still dark. He glanced over to the clock resting on Nogla’s desk and saw that it was 3:30 in the morning. 

“what” Evan said groggily before the lights flipped on. Evan had to shut his eyes because of the sudden bright light and when he opened them again he noticed Lui standing by the light switch with a bright smile on his face. “Lui what are you doing here,” Craig asked. “I came to show you that I finished,” Lui said proudly holding his clock. He was right, he had fixed it. The display was back in its place and the numbers glowed brightly. But there was something different instead of its normal cool blue glow it glowed a bright red and there were a few icons under the time that were never there anymore. 

“wasn’t it blue before” Nogla questioned and Lui nodded. “Yeah since I was fixing it I thought I’d make it even better then it was before, look watch this” Lui pressed one of the icons and the display changed colors. He kept pressing the button until it cycled all the way back to red. Craige looked on in awe “whoa… how did you do that” he asked. “well I had some extra little lights laying around so I just wired them in there” Lui answered. “That’s pretty cool Lui” Nogla said smiling at the clock. 

Lui turned to Evan smiling “What do you think” Evan crossed his arms “I think you locked me out of my own room” Lui shrunk away and his bright prideful smile fell to a shameful frown. “I also think you were rude when you shoved us out of the room and not to mention when Nogla tried to call you over,” Evan said anger spilling out with each word. “Evan…” Nogla said snapping him out of his annoyed grogginess. Evan felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment when he saw that Lui was on the brink of tears. Evan rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry Lui… I didn’t mean to snap like that” Evan said softly. 

“No, you’re right,” Lui said “I shouldn’t have kicked you or glared at you but I just couldn’t help it.’ Lui said frustrated “When you were all watching me I felt super nervous and couldn’t work, and when I saw you guys across the cafeteria I felt so frustrated because it reminded me about the clock and how it was finished. And I'm sorry” Lui said looking down towards the floor. 

Evan smiled and changed his tone to be calmer “I think you did a great job with the clock and I think,” Evan said looking at Nogla and Craig “I think we all accept your apology.” Lui smiled and Evan let out a tired yawn. “Now can I go to sleep in my bed now,” Evan said with a playful smile before saying goodbye to Nogla and Craig and opening the door to return to their own room. Evan pulled open the door and he felt his heart skip several beats. 

Standing just out the doorway was the headmaster of the orphanage with his hands on his hips and tapping his foot on the floor. “What is going on here,” He said clearly very angry about having to be up at 3 in the morning to deal with a couple of disobeying kids. All 4 of them stared up in shock and horror. “Uh oh…” Evan said looking at the others. 

Jonathan stepped out of his bedroom fully dressed in a pair of jeans and his blue hoody as Evan finished up his story. “God seeing his standing there in the darkness waiting for us scared me so much,” Evan said slightly laughing. “So what happened after you got caught?” Jonathan asked smiling intrigued by Evan's story. 

Evan grimaced at the memory “We had to clean the bathrooms for weeks” Evan said shivering. “Not fun at all” 

Jonathan laughed and Evan turned away and walked towards the front door with his keys in hand. Jonathan followed him out the door and Evan could tell he still wasn't convinced about Lui. Evan didn't really blame him for being nervous, he and Lui didn't get along for a while after the mansion burned down. Evan breathed deeply out his nose as they both walk down the stairs to the main lobby of the apartment. He knew why Lui was agitated but he couldn't tell Jonathan just yet. 

Evan pressed down on the remote connected to his keys and heard a loud beep from the parking lot as he unlocked the car. Evan got into the driver's seat while Jonathan got into the front passenger seat. Evan turned on the car and pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the base. The trip was silent but not awkward. 

Still, Evan couldn’t help but think of the events that happened a little over a year ago. If he thought hard enough he could still feel the smothering smoke filling his lungs and the searing pain of being shot in the back. Evan felt his breath quicken and he gripped the wheel tighter. He could still see Jonathan hanging over the edge of a fiery pit screaming his name. “Evan!” Jonathan screamed snapping him out of the trance. 

Evan saw the red light and slammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt just before they crossed into the intersection. “Jesus Christ Evan are you trying to get us killed,” Jonathan said trying to unlock his sinched seat belt. “Sorry,” Evan said loosening his grip on the wheel. “I wasn’t paying attention” Jonathan gave him a concerned look but Evan just looked away and waited for the light to turn green they made it the rest of the way without incident. They pulled up next to Nogla’s car and parked. 

Evan shut off the car and got out. He watched Jonathan hesitate before getting out as well. Evan let out a small sigh after the manor burned they had a hard time trying to repair the broken trust between their friends. They managed to forgive Evan relatively quickly but Jonathan was another story. He was the one who kidnapped them and threatened to kill them. 

At first, they wanted nothing to do with him even one of his closer friends Ryan was wary of him and one of the only reasons none of them went to the police was because Evan begged them not to. The only people that stuck by Jonathan, in the beginning, was Luke and of course Evan. It took a few months but slowly each one forgave Jonathan, Ryan was the first then Smitty followed by Marcel. 

Tyler and Lui had still been a problem but Jonathan was determined, so with the help of Smitty and Craig they manage to warm up Tyler to the idea of being friends with Jonathan again. Lui took a little longer but after seeing how happy Evan was with him around he stopped being angry at Jonathan. He even made the first steps to becoming friends again himself. Evan smiled to himself as he walked up to the door. 

He understood why Jonathan was still nervous especially with the way Lui's been acting recently but with what he’s got planned today it’ll show him that they all do care about him. Evan knocked on the door still smiling to himself. “What are you smiling for” Jonathan teased with a small smile of his own. “nothing,” Evan said but Jonathan narrowed his eyes. “You're lying,” he said his smile growing a little bigger. “Spill it,” he said lightly jabbing Evan in his side. “Ow,” Evan said even though it didn’t hurt. 

Evan opened his mouth to respond when the door opened revealing Lui. Jonathan stiffened when he saw him. “Hi, Lui,” Evan said slightly relieved that Jonathan couldn’t push him for more answers. Lui glared at the pair and mumbled a grumpy hello stepping out of the way to let them through. Evan walked in closely followed by Jonathan who wanted to get away from Lui as fast as possible. 

He followed Evan to a bookshelf that opened up revealing a set of stairs that lead down to a larger room. There sitting on the couch with controllers in their hands was Nogla and Craig. Both had their eyes locked onto the screen caught in an intense match of Mario kart. Evan and Jonathan stood off to the side with amused smiles as they watched Nogla and Craig scream at each other as the race went on. 

Nogla was ahead on the last lap with Craig closely behind. There was a series of loud beeps and a little warning popped up on Nogla’s screen “Noo!!” he screamed clenching the controller tighter and pressing the buttons harder hoping it would make him go faster.

A blue shell with wings flew pasted Craig’s screen and dropped down on Nogla’s little character causing an explosion sending his little charter spinning off the road. Craig zoomed by and crossed the finish line. Craig let out a scream of victory jumping off the couch and doing a little dance. Nogla just groaned and complained about how the game was rigged letting his head fall back against the couch. While Evan and Jonathan just laughed catching the two’s attention. Nogla’s disappointed face turned to an excited smile. 

“Finally,” he said standing up “I was afraid you two wouldn’t show up." Evan smiled “so what do you have in mind for us” “You’ll see,” Nogla said motioning for them to follow. Jonathan gave Evan a worried look but Evan gave him a reassuring smile as they followed Nogla to the medical/training room. They walked past the medical equipment towards the glass door separating the two rooms. Nogla held the door open and allowed Evan and Jonathan to walk in first. Nogla reached down and grabbed a bucket that was sitting on the floor. 

He picked it up and brought it into the room before stepping out and locking the door behind him. Evan and Jonathan shot Nogla a curious and confused look on why he just locked them in the room. “Why did you lock the door” Evan shouted. Nogla who was still on the other side walked over to a control panel and pressed a button turning on the inter com so that they could hear him. 

“I believe I told you Jonathan that I wanted to see your powers in actions and close up. So what better way than a friendly sparring match. I even provided you with water.” Nogla said pointing at the bucket by the door. Jonathan walked over and sure enough, that bucket was filled with water “I don’t know about this Nogla” Jonathan said looking up at him. “You wanted to start going out on missions with Evan right,” Nogla said crossing his arms. “Yeah but” Jonathan started but Nogla cut him off, “Then I need to learn more about your powers and what could negatively affect you,” Nogla said talking a breath. “I failed to do this with Evan and he nearly died from a simple cold, so if you want to do a mission I need to see you in action and in a controlled environment” 

Jonathan looked back down at the bucket and stared at his reflection. “Jonathan if you’re not ready yet we could do this another time,” Evan said. “No…No” Jonathan repeated “I can do this, I just…” he hesitated a bit looking away from Evan. “I just don’t want to hurt you” he mumbled slightly blushing. Evan blushed a little as well. “Well!” Evan said crossing his arms. 

Jonathan snapped his head up at Evan fearing he had somehow offended him. He felt better when he saw that Evan had a big bright smile. “You make it sound like your going to kick my ass,” Evan said holding out his hand in the shape of a fist and lighting it ablaze. His smile was confident and playful “I think you’ll find that I’ll put up a better fight then that” Jonathan felt his heart start to race with excitement as he stared at the flame that encased Evan's hand. He felt a smile start to spread across his lips. He flicked his fingers and the water in the bucket began to flow out in a steam wrapping around his arm.

He looked Evan straight in the eye his smile growing even larger and more confident. “Oh, we’ll see about that” Jonathan said. “This is going to be good” Nogla said to himself sitting down in his chair still near the control panel, holding his clipboard ready to take notes. They slowly paced in a circle. Jonathan’s eyes flicked back and forth observing every move Evan made. They both stopped and waited for one of them to make their first move. 

Evan felt the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile and he watched Jonathan narrow his eyes and stiffen. Evan quickly realized that he wasn’t wearing his mask and Jonathan could see all his facial expressions making it easier to predict his moves. Evan lunged forward at Jonathan swinging his fists towards his face. Jonathan stepped to the side dodging the blow, he grabbed the sleeves of Evan's sweater pulling him closer as he lifted his knee and slammed it into Evan's side. 

Evan let out a gasp of pain but quickly recovered from the hit. Evan took a few step backs to put some distance between him and Jonathan and began to focus on his left hand gathering power into a fiery hot ball. Evan arched his arm back to throw it at Jonathan but was stopped by something wrapping around his wrists, surprising him and yanking him back.

With Evan's concentration broken the fireball faded away. Evan looked up at his hand and saw a small stream of water tightening around his wrists. Evan gathered more heat in his hand and the water slowly started to evaporate away. Jonathan rushed Evan while he was still bound. He flicked his hand and more water separated from the bigger stream that still flowed around his arm. Jonathan directed the stream towards the back of Evan's knee ramming into it hard enough to cause it to buckle. 

Evan finally managed to boil away the water only to be knocked down by a blow from behind. He looked up and saw Jonathan's bring his fist down aiming for his head. Evan quickly brought up his arm and used it as a flaming shield. Jonathan’s fists made contact with Evan's arm creating a large cloud of steam as the fire and water clashed. Nogla looked up from his clipboard and narrowed his eyes trying to see through the blanket of steam. 

When the steam cleared both Evan and Jonathan were standing at least 3 yards apart with their fists up ready for another round. Evan’s flames were gone after being smothered by Jonathan's water. But with a small amount of focus Evan was able to reignite his hand. Jonathan’s water that wrapped around his arm had mostly boiled away leaving a very small stream. The stream slowly started to replenish and Nogla glanced down at his control panel that displayed the status of the room. 

The humanity slowly started to drop, Nogla smiled pleased with the results and went to press the button for the intercom when Jonathan rushed forward again. He charged towards Evan and his hand unconsciously slipped into the pocket of his hoodie. He pulled out his knife and slashed it at Evan. Evan saw the gleam of the knife’s edge as Jonathan swung it at his chest. 

Evan fell back in surprise and the knife slashed threw his shirt grazing his skin. Jonathan pulled the knife back ready to slash again. “Jonathan!” both Nogla and Evan screamed startling him back to reality. Jonathan looked down at Evan who was staring up at him with shock covering his face. He quickly noticed the blood coming from a thin cut stretching across Evan's chest, he also noticed he was holding his knife. Jonathan instantly dropped it as the realization of what he had done had sunken in. 

“Oh my god, I am so sorry I…I..I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t thinking.” Nogla rushed into the room and quickly examined Evan’s wound. “Its nothing to worry about, it’s just a graze.” Nogla said helping him to his feet. Evan looked over at Jonathan who was crouched in a ball with his hands over his head covering his ears. “I didn’t mean too, I’m sorry” Jonathan repeated to himself keeping his eyes sealed shut as tears flowed down his face.

“Jonathan,” Evan said softly crouching down and resting his hand on his shoulder. Jonathan flinched away and didn’t dare to look up at Evan. He was scared, he had lost control and hurt Evan. He had shown his true colors, he really was just a monster. “Jonathan” Evan repeated his tone was soft and warm and he gently placed his hand on top of Jonathan's and carefully pulled them away from his head and held them tightly. 

“Hey look at me,” Evan said quietly. Jonathan hesitated, but he slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes. He felt fear as he lifted his eyes to meet Evan’s. He had expected to see anger and hatred but what he saw was almost worse. Evan’s eyes were filled with compassion and warmth, but there was also sadness and seeing Evan sad practically broke Jonathan's heart. “It’s fine Jonathan, I know you didn’t mean it,” Evan said placing his hand on Jonathan's cheek. 

“But” Jonathan started “No buts,” Evan said cutting him off “Everythings fine I’m not hurt or anything nor am I mad. I know it was just an instinctive reaction." Jonathan wiped away some tears from his eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Jonathan asked and Evan smiled stood up and extended his hand towards Jonathan. “I’m perfectly fine,” He said as Jonathan took his hand and he pulled him to his feet. 

Jonathan stood there for a second before flinging himself into Evan's arms hugging him tightly. Evan who was caught off balance a bit by Jonathan's sudden hug hugged him back just as tightly before Jonathan finally let go. Nogla smiled at the pair’s loving exchange when a bit of movement from the other room caught his attention. Lui entered the medical room staring intently down at his tablet as he walked his way towards the training room door. He pulled it open and stepped in still not looking up from his tablet, but he had a proud smile on his face. 

“Evan I finally finished the sui…” Lui looked up and saw Evan and Nogla standing there. His smile dropped and he had a confused look when he saw the panicked expression on Evan’s face then he saw Jonathan and continued to stretch his last word, “sui...p…soup... I finally finished that soup you wanted me to try” Lui said laughing nervously. “Evan could I speak with you outside,” He said more seriously jerking his head towards the door. 

Evan silently nodded and followed Lui out the door and out of the medical room. Jonathan watched Evan leave with Lui and let out a big sigh when the door clicked shut. Nogla stood there with him feeling a bit awkward and was not too sure how to comfort him. He wanted to but he had a big mouth and he had to be really careful with what he said, he didn’t want to ruin all of Evan's hard work.

“Hey don’t mind him,” Nogla said smiling “He does see you as a friend he’s just a bit grumpy right now, he’ll come around.” Nogla said putting his hand on Jonathan's shoulders. Jonathan gave him a tired look but smiled slightly “I know, Evan told me the same thing” He said a bit in defeat. Nogla squeezed his shoulder “Come on now things will get better, I promise” He said smiling walking with him towards the door. They walked out of the medical room and out into the hallway. Jonathan did a quick glance for Evan but he didn’t see him. 

Nogla continued to guide him towards the bar and sat him down at the counter. Jonathan watched Nogla walk behind the bar and start pouring a drink for both him and himself. Jonathan didn’t touch his drink while Nogla chatted with him. He appreciated that Nogla was trying to cheer him up but he wasn’t really listening to what Nogla was saying, he kept looking around for Evan who had disappeared with Lui. The sounds of a door swinging open caught Jonathan's attention. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Evan walking up from a set of stairs that lead deeper into the base. 

Evan smiled at Jonathan and started to walk over to him. There was the sound of pounding footsteps echoing up from within the stairwell. Evan looked back at the door he came from just as Lui reached the top stair out of breath. “Evan we have a problem,” Lui said leaning against the door frame trying to catch his breath. Evan ran over to Lui who showed him something on the tablet. 

Evan’s face contorted to one of panic. Jonathan looked away from Evan back towards Nogla pretending not to listen. “What are they doing here” Evan whispered glancing over at Jonathan. “It’s not time yet” “I don’t know,” Lui said, “But you need to get rid of him if you still want this to work.” Jonathan looked at Evan with the corner of his eye and saw a troubled expression “I can’t do that” Evan said. “You're going to have to, it’s going to ruin everything if you don’t,” Lui said kind of aggressively. 

Jonathan felt his mind start to race, what were they talking about. “What should I say to him,” Evan asked biting his thumb nervously. “I don’t know just taking him somewhere quite then you can…” Lui said as Jonathan strained to listen but Nogla smacked him in the back as he sat down next to him blocking his view of Evan. “You haven't even touched your drink yet.” Nogla said 

“Oh sorry” Jonathan mumbled as he took a quick sip of the drink nogla poured for him. Nogla continued to chat with him but Jonathan tuned him out again, all Jonathan could think about was what Evan and Lui were talking about, who were they talking about, what were they planning to do. Jonathan watched Lui walk past him and up the stairs into the house. He noticed Evan was still standing by the door clearly troubled by something. He then looked back at Nogla who was staring at him intently. Oh, crap did he ask me a question, Jonathan thought. 

He opened his mouth the respond when Evan called his name. both he and Nogla looked over at Evan who was still standing by the doorway. “Can I talk to you for a bit” Jonathan felt a ball of dread fall into his stomach, "Sure" he said as he stood up and made his way towards Evan. Evan turned and started walking down the stairs “There’s something I want to show you” Evan said clearly a bit nervous. 

Jonathan’s nerves also were on edge “Is everything all right” He asked following Evan down the concrete steps “Yeah” Evan responded quickly. Jonathan narrowed his eyes at Evan. That response had definitely not help settled his nerves. They walked farther down the stairs until they reached the bottom. There was a giant tunnel with a little bit of light at the end. Evan started walking down the tunnel and Jonathan followed close behind. His heart started to beat faster and faster as they got closer to the light. 

Evan was hiding something from him, did it have something to do with what happened in the training room. Jonathan thought back to the fight and he couldn’t help but see the bloody knife in his head. He didn’t have control of his actions, his instincts had been in control and he could have really hurt Evan because of it. Maybe Mr. Pelter had done more damage to him then he realized. 

What if he snapped again, what if he couldn’t stop himself this time. What if he reverted back to his old ways. Could he really be a good guy after everything that’s happened? Jonathan was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice the roaring sound of water and that they were reaching the end of the tunnel. 

Evan stopped at the mouth of the cave and started up at the waterfall hiding the entrance. Jonathan continued to walk and smashed his nose into Evan's back. “Ow,” Jonathan mumbled rubbing his nose while Evan lightly chuckled. 

“You okay,” Evan asked still smiling “yeah,” Jonathan said slightly embarrassed. He looked past Evan and stared up in aw at the backside of the waterfall. His eyes followed the water down to the rocky bottom and felt a shiver run up his spine. The rocks were jagged and sharp laying far below from the mouth of the cave. A fall from this height would definitely kill someone and with the size of the waterfall, you probably wouldn’t find the body for weeks if ever. Jonathan continued to stand on the edge of the cave staring down when he noticed Evan standing just behind him. 

Jonathan turned around and smiled nervously at Evan. Evan smiled back grabbed Jonathan by his hoodie and pulled him in kissing him on the lips. Jonathan was startled for a second but quickly started to melt into the kiss. Evan then suddenly shoved him back, Jonathan stumbled and he felt his foot slip off the edge.

He started to fall and he reached out hoping Evan would grab him but he didn’t, he didn’t even move, all he did was smile. He watched as Jonathan started to fall. Why was he smiling Jonathan thought, did he want this. Then Evan did something else unexpected, he jumped off the cliff too. Jonathan felt a hand wrap around his waist and he quickly released that he wasn’t falling anymore but he was instead flying over a beautiful lake. Evan let out a joyous laugh and Jonathan looked up to see Evan’s beautiful wings glistening in the sunlight. 

“Wasn’t that fun!” Evan said still laughing. “NO! that was not fun I thought you were trying to kill me” Jonathan yelled clinging to Evan's side. “Kill you? Why would I want to do that” Evan said in a confused almost hurt tone. Jonathan felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “I well… I overheard you and Lui talking and I thought I heard him saying to get rid of me, and then you took me to the really dark cave and then you push me off a waterfall.” Jonathan said still pretty embarrassed. 

He expected Evan to yell at him but all Evan did was laugh even more. “That’s what you get for eavesdropping,” Evan said between breaths. Jonathan crossed his arm and started to pout, “Well then what were you talking about” He demanded. “Definitely not that,” Evan said with a mischievous smile, He pulled Jonathan closer and planted a quick kiss on the cheek, “Now hush and watch,” Evan said pointing out at the landscape in front of them. 

Jonathan thought about protesting but when he looked at where Evan was pointing he felt his breath get taken away. The sun was slowly starting to turn orange and the clouds were starting to glow different shades of yellows and oranges. “Wow,” Jonathan said without really thinking. He looked down and through the broken patches of clouds he could see the busy city below. Cars zoomed by in the streets and people rushed to whatever their destination was completely unaware of the pair flying in the skies above them. 

“Pretty neat right,” Evan said flapping his wings to keep them in the air. “This is amazing!” Jonathan exclaimed holding his arms out like a plane. “Everything is so small up here,” He said and with his arms still outstretched he stared leaned to one side pretending he was the one actually flying. Evan smiled and rolled his eyes at Jonathan and decided to humor him by drifting the direction he was leaning in Jonathan began to laugh “Let’s go higher" Jonathan said in a childish tone.

“Okay,” Evan said gripping Jonathan tighter. His wings beat harder and they quickly started to ascend higher into the sky. Evan began to pick up speed and Jonathan let out a yelp of excitement. He felt Evan’s grip loosen and soon he let go completely and he was falling from the sky. “Evan!” Jonathan screamed, Evan collapsed his wings against his back and zoomed down next to Jonathan laughing. 

Jonathan could feel his stomach in his mouth as the wind whipped by his body. Evan grabbed Jonathan’s hand and pulled him in close and kissed him on the lips. “You know I love you right?” Evan asked smiling. When Evan said those words it was like the whole world went into slow motion and Jonathan forgot the fact he was even falling. “I know,” Jonathan said tears swelling in his eyes. He hugged Evan tightly, who smiled and hugged him back. “Good,” Evan said softly.

He then spread out his wings and started to slow their descent. As they approached the ground Jonathan recognized Evan’s car parked in front of the base. Evan flapped his wings hard to slow their decline even more and he carefully set Jonathan on the ground before landing himself in front of the house. Evan’s wings vanished and he started walking towards the front door. Jonathan had to walk briskly to keep up with him. “That was awesome!” Jonathan said like an excited child. Evan grinned at him “Glad you enjoyed it” Evan said a bit distracted. Jonathan raised an eyebrow at this “Hey what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Evan said a little too quickly. Evan walked up to the door and went to open it. “Wait,” Jonathan said and Evan froze with his hand on the handle. He glanced over at Jonathan who was glaring at him with his icy blue eyes and arms crossed. “What's wrong” Jonathan repeated. “Nothings wrong,” Evan said “Now come on and let's go inside” and he went back to opening the door. “Evan,” Jonathan said sternly “I’m not going inside until you tell me what’s wrong”. Evan could feel himself starting to panic. 

He was so close all he had to do was get Jonathan threw this doorway and he could finally get this weight off of his chest. Evan let go of the handle and took a deep breath. He took a few steps closer to Jonathan who still had his arms crossed and was glaring at him. He put his hands on Jonathan's shoulders and smiled as genuinely as possible. 

“I promise absolutely nothing is wrong and I swear if there ever is anything that is bothering me you’ll be the first person I tell, Okay?” Evan said. Jonathan seemed to pounder those words before he finally seemed to accept them. “Okay,” Jonathan said and they made their way towards the door. Evan pushed the door open and stepped in followed by Jonathan. 

Evan shut the door behind him leaving them in total darkness. “I’ll get the light!” Evan said and he flipped on the switch. There were loud popping sounds as the light filled the room causing Jonathan jumped as colorful string and bright reflective squares exploded into the room. “Surprise!” people yelled popping out from behind the finisher in the room. Jonathan took a step back in surprise trying to process what just happened.

Luke and Ryan stepped out from behind the couch smiling. Nogla, Lui, and Craig had been also hiding behind the furnisher. They all were holding little confetti poppers except Nogla who was holding a beer bottle. “Happy Birthday Jonathan!” They all said in unison including Evan. Jonathan was still in a state of shock, he had completely forgotten about his own birthday. Luke walked up to Jonathan and slapped him on the back snapping him out of his thoughts. 

“Pretty neat right,” Luke said “Yeah” Jonathan replied still overwhelmed. “Did you do all this?” Jonathan asked Luke but he just smiled “Nope you have even to thank for this” Jonathan turned to look at Evan “You did all this,” He said still trying to process what was happening. Evan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly “Well when Luke told me you’ve never had a birthday party before I knew I had to change that” Evan said but Jonathan didn’t say anything back and he started to get nervous that Jonathan might be not like the party so he started to ramble, “I got super scared when you refused to go inside at first, or when Lui told me that Luke and Ryan had shown up earlier than I had expected…” Evan was going to continue to nervously rant when Jonathan ran forward and hugged Evan tightly catching him a bit of guard. 

When Jonathan pulled away he had a massive smile on his face and his vibrant blue eyes were a bit glossy from almost bursting into tears of joy. “It’s perfect!” Jonathan said “Thank you” He gave Evan a quick peck on the cheek before taking him by the hand and dragging him towards Luke and the others. The party went much better then Evan had expected and his heart filled with joy to see Jonathan so happy. They all played video games together, had cake, Nogla even brought a piñata for Jonathan to break. And let's just say that almost ended with someone getting their head smacked in with a bat. “You need to be more careful” Nogla scowled Lui who still had the blindfold on his head. 

“Well I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to let go of the bat,” Lui said a bit annoyed at being lectured while Craig just glared at him and Ryan picked up the broken pieces of a vase. “Just be more careful this time, we need Craig's head to not be splattered on the wall,” Nogla said reluctantly handing Lui back the bat. When Lui took hold of the bat again everyone took at least three large steps back. Lui glared and stuck his tongue out at them before pulling the blindfold back down over his face and swing at the pinta only to miss. “Maybe it wasn't a good idea to do this inside” Evan whispered to Nogla. “You think,” He said as he watched Lui miss again. Everyone took turns batting until Ryan finally managed to break it. 

After that, it was another round of video games before Luke declared that it was time for Jonathan to open up his presents. One by one everyone except Lui handed Jonathan a present and he opened them even though he felt a bit embarrassed with everyone watching. Jonathan thanked everyone for their gift when Evan placed another box on his lap. “what is this” Jonathan asked examining the box. “A present” Evan responded. Jonathan rolled his eyes “but you already gave me one?” Evan smiled “So”. Jonathan pulled off the ribbon tying the lid down and popped it off of the box. He moved the tissue paper out of the way and found the object inside. He stared at it in shock and carefully removed it from the box. 

It was a teddy bear, it looked like his teddy bear. He lifted its left arm and there were a few white stitches that stood out against its brown fur. It was his teddy bear! The one his mother had picked out for him when he was born. Jonathan looked up at Evan “Where did you did you get this from.” He asked "I thought this burned in the fire," Jonathan said still in disbelief. “I knew how important it was to you so when I saw it on the bed I grabbed it before we went out the window," Evan said "Sorry it took so long to give it back to you I was so out of it from the loss of blood that I forgot I even had it” Jonathan continued to stare at his teddy bear “thank you" he said hugging the bear tightly to his chest. 

Evan opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of a siren and a bright red light flashing in the room.“Shit” Craig swore and booked it towards the hidden stairwell followed by Evan. “What the hell is that” Luke yelled over the noise while covering his ears. Jonathan just shrugged in response and decided to follow as well. They traveled down the stairs and saw a panicked Craig typing furiously on a laptop while Evan just looked over his shoulder at the screen. Luke and Ryan looked around the room in aw “So this is where you do all your superhero stuff” Luke mumbled. 

“What’s wrong,” Jonathan asked walking up to the other side of Craig. “I don’t know,” Craig said “There was a massive energy surge in the center of the city and I can’t tell what caused it or if there’s any damage” “I’ll head down there and check it out then,” Evan said turning to leave. “I’ll go too,” Jonathan said stepping forward to follow Evan. “No,” Evan said, “It’s your birthday, you stay here and enjoy yourself.” “But” Jonathan protested “No buts” Evan said planting a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’ll only be gone for a moment,” He said and headed out of the room. Jonathan could feel his nerves start to act up, he didn’t like it when Evan went out by himself. It made him feel anxious and nervous. If something happened Jonathan couldn’t be there to protect him. 

“He’ll be fine,” Craig said. “it’s just a simple check, hell there might not be anything wrong and the sensor just might be messed up.” Jonathan didn’t say anything and returned upstairs followed by Luke and Ryan. Lui disappeared somewhere while Craig and Nogla remained downstairs to monitor the situation. Jonathan did his best to relax but he couldn’t stop worrying about Evan. He was in the middle of playing a round of Mario cart when he heard someone called his name. He looked up and saw Lui standing in the doorway waving him over. “Can I talk to you for a second” Jonathan felt a knot tighten in his stomach. What could Lui want to talk about? Jonathan got up from the couch and walked over to Lui who had turned and walked farther down the steps.

Jonathan stood there a bit confused before he realized that Lui wanted him to follow. Jonathan followed him down the stairs and past the survivance room. Lui walked into a room near the bottom of the stairs and held the door open for Jonathan. Jonathan sped up and quickly walked through the doorway. He entered a decent size room that had a table in the center. Lights hanging from the ceiling illuminated the countless amount of gears, screws, nuts, bolts, and other pieces of technology scattered across the very cluttered table. Shelves lined the wall and a couple of drones sat in a charging booth. Some guns were laid out and seemed to be in the process of being cleaned. 

Lui walked deeper into the room while Jonathan hung by the door out of nervousness ready to make a quick escape if needed. Lui walked to the far wall towards an object covered by a sheet. “Look I know I’ve been kind of cold to you lately trust me it’s nothing personal, I was just extremely frustrated with this and every time I saw you I was reminded of that stress.” Lui walked over to one of the shelves on the wall and picked up a cup and drank from it. 

“Lui you don’t need to apologize to me I understand why you’d be still mad at me,” Jonathan said not fully comprehending what Lui said. “I’m not mad at you” Lui repeated. “I just act like it when I'm focusing on a project and I can’t help it, just ask Evan” Lui muttered and Jonathan chuckled a little. “Yeah, he told me” Lui put down his cup and walked back towards the tall object covered by a sheet. “Speaking of Evan” Lui said gripping the sheet. “A little owl told me that you like raccoons,” Lui said with a bright smile. “So I made you this” He yanked down the tarp revealing what was underneath. Jonathan’s eyes lit up in aw. “Oh wow” 

Evan felt his lungs wheeze as he desperately tried to recapture the air that was knocked out of him by the impact. Evan groaned and slowly started to get up when something slammed into his ribs knocking him back down to the ground. Evan laid there stunned and confused, one minute he was flying over the area of the reading and the next he was on the floor being beaten by some guy in a leather jacket and black pants. 

Evan managed to push himself off the ground and stumbled back from the assailant. The man had squarish features and wore dark sunglasses to cover his eyes giving him a badass motorcyclist look. “Who the hell are you,” Evan said gripping his side. “I am a cybernetic organism model t-800 but my human name is Brian.” The man said in a thick Irish accent. 

“What do you want” Evan questioned Brian but before he could respond Evan whispered into his earpiece for Craig. “Craig can you give me a reading on this guy” But all he got in response was silent, he was on his own. “I’m here to eliminate all of the human race,” Brian said coldly. Evan scoffed “I’d like to see you try” 

He put up his frists and took a defensive stance. The man didn’t move at all. Evan rushed forward and slammed his fists into the man’s chest. Pain shot through his whole arm and he couldn’t move it. It felt like he had just punched a solid brick wall with full force. Evan stared at him in shock, he really was a robot! 

Brian grabbed him by the arm and physically threw him across the street. Evan slammed into a stop sign knocking it completely off of its bar. It clattered on the ground next to Evan who was still shocked that he had been thrown so far with so little effort. Brian slowly started to make his way towards Evan. Evan got off the ground and grabbed the fallen sign for defense. Evan swung the sign at his face. Gouging out part of his skin on the right side of his face revealing the metal exoskeleton underneath. His red robotic eye seemed to burn into Evan's soul and Brian raised his fist and slammed it into the side of Evan's head.

Evan fell back, his ears rang and his vision was filled with dots and swirled. Evan shook his head trying to reorient himself. He faced Brian again and raised his fists but his legs swayed a bit beneath him from the impact. “I’m… going to stop you” Evan repeated a bit out of breath. The robot seemed to chuckle “you're going to defeat me?” the robot said walking a bit closer. “you can barely stand and your all alone.”

“Oh really now," another voice said and Evan couldn’t help but smile beneath his mask. Brian froze in his place but before he could turn around a large stream of water slammed into his back. The robot twitched and sparked. Little plums of smoke pour out of his body before he stopped moving altogether and fell over revealing someone standing there. They were wearing a black outfit that was similar to Evan's and a raccoon mask. “I was behind you the whole time,” Jonathan said with excitement.

He looked over at Evan “Are you okay” he said rushing to his side. “I’ll live” Evan groaned trying to stand a bit straighter. He looked over at the fallen robot “You’d think that a robot from the future would be waterproof” Evan said a bit surprised. “You would think so,” Jonathan said in agreement. Evan turned to walk away but he was forced to limp from the pain in his side. Jonathan made his way to Evan’s side and threw his arm over his shoulder to help support him.

“So much for this being an easy mission” Jonathan teased as he helped Evan towards the car he drove to get here. “Well…” Evan groaned “The next time there’s a scouting mission with a chance of a robot from the future showing up, I’ll let you handle it.” Evan said trying his best to walk on his own. Jonathan laughed a bit and smiled warmly under his new mask. 

“Come on Mr. Grumpy owl let’s get you home”

The end!


End file.
